The Face of Evil - Episode 3

As this is the penultimate episode I really hope that something happens in this episode that really makes me re-evaluate the entire story. This is traditionally where the story should get interesting as all the build up had already been done. This is the first episode where I think that the Doctor and Leela are working on the same team. I was so underwhelmed with the cliffhanger that I didn’t really comment on it and I’m not going to do so here but I at least wanted you to know that I at least acknowledge this.

After a few moments I am hit with the realisation that this might be getting better pretty quickly as the story goes back to the Doctor and Leela who are in the Doctor’s mouth (strangest line I’ve ever written. The CSO that is used to show the Doctor and Leela walking through a wall is quite good. It shows an improvement on what we use to get during the Barry Letts era. Even in the big chamber where there are a few CSO screens, it looks pretty good and its used to good effect.

I like the idea that the Doctor’s actions have consequences and the people and setting he encounters is because of him. We are given a bit more information about what the Doctor did and it done in a clear way and it makes sense. It’s always nice to go to somewhere that the Doctor has visited before but the viewer hasn’t.

The action finally moves to somewhere a bit more interesting in this episode. After being stuck in the savages den and in the forest and now it goes somewhere a bit more modern. Most of the drama take places on a spaceship and this is where we are introduced to the Tesh’s who are dressed in this god awful green costume. Another problem is the corridor sets are too bright and whilst this will be a problem in future stories it’s the worst thing that I can come up with in this part of the story.

The cliffhanger is much better in this episode because its such a barmy and mad way to end the episode. The final shot is of the Doctor saying “Who am I?” but with someone else’s voice. I still haven’t been won over with this story but this is the first time that I have thought anything positive about one of the episodes.

The Face of Evil - Episode 2

I’ve done something different with todays episode and that is I am watching it and then leaving it a few hours before I write this review. I was hoping that it was have a good effect on me but I’m afraid to say that this didn’t happen. As much as I am enjoying what I am seeing in this episode. I would be lying if I said that I thought that it was particularly good. I think that as normal adventure its perfectly fine but its nothing spectacular. This is the first episode where the name Xoanon becomes part of the plot and a bit more explanation is made about why the Doctor has had the impact he has had on this planet.

I still think that Louise Jameson is giving the character a good try and being involved in the story and I like how she hasn’t screamed or really done anything stupid. As much as I dislike the outfit that she is wearing, I cant fault what is being done with the character in terms of what would be considered classic companions traits such as screaming but whereas in the past it would be annoying that the likes of Jo and Jamie would ask stupid questions, its sort of expected from Leela as she is being introduced as someone who isn’t that smart.

The effect of the Xoanon Doctor appearing was rather good and it was only made good because Tom Baker pulls the most extraordinary face which does look quite scary. Tom Baker’s humour does show itself again in this episode but this time it feels like its more at the expense of the locals. There is one bit where the Doctor is using a cricket metaphor which in the scene that he uses it is a bit odd.

The thing is that this story really is struggling to maintain my interest and I think even if you watched this long after ‘The Deadly Assassin’, this story would look a bit slow and I worry that the final two episodes will be hard to watch. It’s a shame because as I mentioned earlier, its not a terrible thing to watch because there are things in it that are making it watchable but I think that it is just lacking that final punch to make it a well like story.

The Face of Evil - Episode 1

This is the first appearance of Louise Jameson as Leela. After Elisabeth Sladen, it was perhaps a wise idea to go in a different direction with the character that would assist the Doctor and its fair to say that this is definelty the case with Leela. This was the first episode of 1977 and it returns after a month long holiday (last episode was November 20), so fans would have been intrigued with seeing what happens next.

Louise Jameson is the first face that we see when the credits end and it doesn’t take long for her to show her defiance and how she might be a bit like Sarah. Leela was one of those characters that was created ‘for the dads’. She wore very little and couldn’t be labelled as a feminist but starts off her time with the Doctor by calling him the evil one. There is an aspect of this story that I’m not a huge fan of and that the whole idea of following voices or higher beings. There will be a sound purpose for this being in the story but at the moment its not a great part of the story.

The threat the Doctor uses when he says he will kill someone with a jelly baby is another bit of humour that seems to be creeping in. Also the part where it looks like he is talking to a tree. Now at the moment these comedic moments are slight and nothing to get really bothered about but over the course of the next few seasons, it will be more of an issue.

Janice Thorn is a weapon that Leela uses and is instantly a source of conflict between the her and the Doctor. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Doctor and Leela’s relationship is the relationship between Tom Baker and Louise Jameson. Nowadays it’s very good in their Big Finish stories but back then its clear that there was a bit of resentment so Louise Jameson was the unwanted companion and that means the friendship that the Doctor and companion should have just isn’t there like it was when Elisabeth Sladen was on the show. For her first episode I think that Jameson does a good job and shows that there is some strength to the character. Whilst she might be like Sarah she is still a stronger character than some that have come before her. If only the could change the costume.

The cliffhanger is a good one because for most of the episode we have been teased with the idea of ‘the evil one’ and it appears that the Doctor has been on the planet before. The final shot is of a massive sculpture of the Doctor’s face. His is the face of evil which a nice way to end the episode. I think that following the previous episode was always going to be a tough job and its not a critiscm but I think that this story does look a bit pedestrian compared to ‘The Deadly Assassin’.

The Deadly Assassin - Episode 4

This if the final episode of the story without a companion and also the final story of 1976. I have been totally bowled over by this story and even though I loved this story before I started watching this I have been surprised with just how much I have loved this story. Despite Goth being such an important part of the story, he doesn’t last very long in this episode. I think that Horsfall’s last scene was great and he definelty left the show on a highnote. The idea that Goth was working with the Master to try and get some power and knowledge is a bit clichéd but doesnt mean that its not a good idea and serves a purpose in the story.

The Master pretends to fake his death to try and make people think that the troubles are over. He’s out of things for a while and when he’s eventually mobile, he’s very creepy and the dark lighting makes the Master’s costume even more effective. Peter Pratt has been very good as the Master and due to the story means that its difficult to compare his performance to Roger Delgado. In fact during the previous four episodes, I never thought about whether it was as good as Delgado.

The line about their being twelfth regeneration was designed to be a throwaway line and yet if you try and go beyond this, then certain fans will get a bit stroppy. I can see why people would use this as part of the shows folklore because there wasn’t anything telling them otherwise but the fact that nothing was mentioned before means that we can ignore and I cant believe that Robert Holmes intended this to be part of timelord information, its clear that he was just using it as a plot point.

The final fight between the Doctor and the master is very good and its made even better by the fact that things are crashing down around them. The sets in this serial have been highly impressive and something that I haven’t mentioned so far. The sets are dark and they just look really top notch and its great how they have made Gallifrey seem vast despite filming this in a studio. As much as I enjoyed all the location filming, its rare that the studio filming is just as good.

The Master is defeated by falling over the edge and its not long before its clear that he survived and leads in his TARDIS just after the Doctor does. If I were watching this in 1976, then I would be hoping that it wouldn’t be too long before the master would return but sadly it wont be until Tom baker’s penultimate story before he would return. I think that this has been one of the best stories for quite sometime (not the first time that I have said that) but the experiment of not having a companion is now over and Leela of the Sevateem is about to come on board the TARDIS.

 

The Deadly Assassin - Episode 3

The information text on this episode says that this is one of the most controversial in the shows history and it’s not hard to see why. The story takes place largely in the matrix and apart from a few cutaway scenes, this story takes place in the matrix and with just the Doctor and Goth. It’s a rare thing to balance the story to this degree and its only because of Robert Holmes that this works. I think that if it were done by someone else then it wouldn’t have worked as well.

I often wonder what would happen in this episode if there were a companion and I think that it would lose quite a lot because just having the Doctor means that the viewer can just focus on him. There is a nice chase going of between the Doctor and the masked individual. When its revealed that Goth is the masked hunter it doesn’t really come as a great surprise but that’s not a problem because the whole chase has been so good that its at least a relief that they dispense with not mentioning what everyone must have known. I think that Bernard Horsfall gives another solid performance and this is perhaps his best. He manages to stand up to Tom Baker performance wise and speaking of Baker, this is his best episode I think since he took over the role.

The location work is superb and the high quantity of location filming means that this episode (and story) have a different vibe than previous stories. I mentioned in the previous episode’s review that David Maloney did a great job directing this story and it’s even better in this episode because Maloney uses the locations to their best and even though its filmed in a british quarry, it’s possible that some of them could be filmed in a rainforest and its funny watching the really hot summer on the screen when its equally just as hot outside during one of the warmest summers in a long time.

The cliffhanger is possibly the most controversial moment of them all. There is a shocking sight of Goff on fire but that’s not compared to when the Doctor is being held underwater by Goth and the shot freezes on him. This is another solid episode and I can’t find any fault with this episode whatsoever. This has been a great run of episodes and the problem with the story being as ‘controversial’ as it is perceived to be is that it is effectively the best that the Hinchcliffe era will get.

The Deadly Assassin - Episode 2

After being totally thrilled with the opening episode this episode doesn’t waste any time in getting going. They add something to the reprise when they show someone else holding the gun which kills the President. The scene where the Doctor is being tortured does highlight why having a companion would be good for the Doctor.

The ‘trial’ is a weird scene because it starts with the Doctor sketching and its clear that Bernard Horsfall’s character is trying to manipulate things. He clearly has aspirations to become President and its obvious even to a blind spielsnake that he’s working with the Master. The Master’s mask is very good. It might be a bit primitive but it still looks creepy. In his first scene he still isn’t named but its moments later when we see a figure in the camera and it’s clear that it what the Master use to do. When the Doctor finds out that the Master is on Gallifrey his attitude changes a great deal. Tom Baker has been very good so far in this story and it weird to see how different he has been since Elisabeth Sladen has left the show. Baker’s argument he didn’t need a companion are proven here.

The Doctor invokes article 17 to avoid being executed. Robert Holmes has invented some things in this story which become part of Doctor Who’s folklore. Not sure that this is one of them but it’s a good plot device to use and helps move the story enough and gets the Doctor out of his current predicament (and into another one).

The Doctor decides that he is going to try and convince Spandrell by proving that he couldn’t have shot the President. George Pravda returns to the show and is again someone that the Doctor (and thus the viewer) can trust and effectively becomes the Doctor’s companion.

It’s in this episode where the Doctor goes into the Matrix and this is where the episode shows its greatness to everyone. The Doctor is in peril pretty much from the moment he arrives in the matrix. These scenes are fantastically directed by David Maloney who is one the best directors to have ever worked in Doctor Who purely based on his consistently high quality. To try and pick out a particular highlight would be unfair to those moments that I don’t choose. The cliffhanger is a great one with the Doctor about to be mowed down by a train. This is a great end to a great episode. I think that my original thoughts about this being a fantastic story are spot on and this has to be one of the best Tom Baker stories that there has been. Half way through and I still want to watch the next two episodes now but I suppose I have to wait.

The Deadly Assassin - Episode 1

Ok lets get this out of the way straight away and address the title. An assassin is deadly, so quite why you would need to put deadly at the beginning is a bit of a mystery. That said it’s the biggest weakness in this entire story so that tells you how highly I rate this story. After the departure of Elisabeth Sladen in the previous episode, this is the first time since ‘Mission to the Unknown’ that a companion doesn’t appear at all. This is also the first time that the story has been set on Gallifrey as opposed to briefly being in the story. It’s been 92 episodes since the Master last appeared which when put into context is just over 1,300 days. The Master was last seen in ‘Frontier in Space’ episode six way back in season ten. Then it was played by Roger Delgado who sadly passed away shortly afterwards so it was a brave decision to recast the role.

The previous episode ended with the Doctor getting a call from Gallifrey and the episode starts with a nice star wars style caption. Within a few moments the Doctor gets a sense of what’s going on when it appears that the President has been shot. The big thing that is going on Gallifrey is that the President is resigning and a new one is going to be nominated and the president is assassinated before he can name the successor. What I quite like is that the Doctor is on his own and has his back against the wall straight away. The whole episode is building up to the assassination and it’s very unusual for the tension to feel as high as it does in what is an opening episode.

The portrayal of the guards is slightly comedic and reminds me an awful lot of UNIT soldiers because they act tough but are easily outfoxed by the Doctor and by the end of the episode don’t come across as anything to worry about. What does work better is the Master and even though he’s not named its obviously him and its clear that he has someone working for him. Sadly Bernard Horsfall doesn’t do a great job in hiding his voice. This is probably the same approach that Christian Bale took when he was playing Batman.

The cliffhanger ends with what appears to be the Doctor shooting the outgoing President. The episode ends (for the second time in a row) with a freeze frame, however time it actually has a purpose because of the shocking conclusion. As an opening episode its one of the best that I can recall and shows that this is going to be one of the best stories of Tom Baker’s time on the show. I think that whereas this story was designed to show Tom Baker why he needed a companion, I think that it actually achieves the opposite and shows why the show might have benefited from not having anyone for the Doctor to worry about. This episode has to be one of the best one for Tom Baker so far and I really cant wait to watch the rest of the story because I know that there are going to be some classic moments and some interesting moments to mention.

The Hand of Fear - Episode 4

This is the final episode for Elisabeth Sladen as a companion. She asked that her departure didn’t feature a wedding (like Jo’s) or that her departure was the centre of the story as she didn’t consider Sarah to be the central character which is a rather selfless thing to do. The episode starts off (as it always does) with the reprise and I don’t know if it was the case in the cliffhanger but looking at Eldrad, the way she is standing seems to suggest she is already holding the dart and just waiting to turn around. Anyway that’s irrelevant really but the early moments of this episode are given over to Eldrad and trying to save her. The bit where Eldrad falls onto Sarah after some rocks come down is a slightly comedic moment and does seem out of place during this early part. There is bit of ‘Death to the Dalek’s in this episode where they are travelling through tunnels with booby traps involved. This doesn’t happen for long as the female Eldrad doesn’t last long as she gets squashed. Just when it looks like that all is over the story has another twist when Stephen Thorne appears as the male Eldrad. The problem that arises pretty much straight away is that Eldard sounds an awful lot like Omega. Thorne played Omega in ‘The Three Doctors’. I still think that Thorne is a great addition to the story but I think that he could have done something else to make him sound less like Omega. King Rokon is introduced just moments after the male Eldrad is at first I thought that this was going to ruin the good work done but it turns out that what we see of Rokon is actually a recording and so saves the situation. What isn’t saved is how Eldrad is defeated and its simply done by tricking him over into the abyss. Bit of a shame really.

The final scene between the Doctor and Sarah is a great scene. It starts off as a rant and Sarah thinks that she is going to make a point to the Doctor but it back fires when he gets a message from Gallifrey and the Doctor is forced to dump Sarah on earth. I really don’t want Sarah to go and even though I have seen this countless times, I still hope that she will stay and go to Gallifrey. When she leaves the TARDIS I know that it go down the same way. The very last moment between Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen is very emotional and just as emotional as when Patrick Troughton, Wendy Padbury and Frazer Hines said goodbye to each other at the end of ‘The War Games’. Telling each other not to forget the other and that travel broadens the mind are two bits which are sad and the Doctor caps it off with “until we meet again”.

It wouldn’t be Doctor Who if something wrong didn’t happen and moments after the Doctor leaves, Sarah realises that Sarah probably isn’t even in Croydon. This is something that would crop up when Sarah Jane meets the Tenth Doctor but I don’t quite know what better way there could be to have Sarah Jane walking out on the show. Whilst I might not have been sold on the idea of Sarah Jane going from feminist journalist to what a normal companion would be like (minus the screaming), but Elisabeth Sladen has been one of the greatest companions in the shows history

I think that ending the episode on a cliffhanger was perhaps the wrong way to end it as it doenst actually serve a purpose to the story and so that is the only thing that I would have changed. That said I get the feeling that the honeymoon period of Tom Baker’s time is over because I don’t think that the relationship between the Doctor and the companion will be the same

The Hand of Fear - Episode 3

It’s hard to believe that this is Elisabeth Sladen’s penultimate episode. After the previous serial, its good that Elisabeth Sladen is starting to get the story that she deserves. The main problem that I have felt that has been in four part adventures is that when it gets to the third episode it starts to go off the rail a bits whilst trying to get to the end of the story. The episode begins with things going off a bit and then nothing happens. It’s quite a clever way to get out of a cliffhanger and its done in a way that isn’t silly or convoluted. An unexplosion is a term used by the Doctor which is a great one.

The beginning of the episode see the nuclear base destroyed and the Doctor, Watson and Sarah hide behind a land rover. Even though the explosion doesn’t happen, its stretching things a bit beyond believability to think that hiding behind a car would provide any protection from a nuclear explosion. That’s a minor issue in the grand scheme of things really because its difficult to know exactly what the thinking was behind surviving this sort of thing in 1976 would be.

The reveal of Eldrad is quite fun as its put off for a few seconds after the camera pull into the shot. The idea that Eldrad starts off as a woman is quite a creative one because the instinct would have been to have Eldrad as a man from the start. The costume is quite effective. It shows what can be done even on what must be a relative budget and Judith Paris is a very good Eldrad and more than holds her own against Sladen and Baker.

The scene where Eldrad, Sarah and the Doctor are talking is a nice. It’s fairly good at explaining what is going to happen for the rest of the story. When they end up in the TARDIS its here that the idea of the temporal grace line is introduced. This is something that gets used occasionally for most of the Doctor’s time in the classic era and it seems like a convenient throw away line that only serves a purpose in this particular scene.

The cliffhanger again doesn’t feature the Doctor or Sarah but instead features Eldrad who gets the point of why her home world isn’t quite as good as she remembered. It’s a great ending and its another solid episode and I am really struggling to come up with any problems with this story. Ok so that there are things that could perhaps have been improved but they are minor things. Now there is just one episode left for Elisabeth Sladen and I hope that watching it in the way that I have been watching it doesn’t mean that Sarah Jane’s final episode is a disappointment.

The Hand of Fear - Episode 2

After the great opening episode, I did wonder whether the remaining episodes wouldn’t be as good as I was hoping for. The effect of the hand moving that we see at the beginning of the episode is still a great effect. Even the shot later on where it appears to move on its own (via CSO) is a good effect.

Professor Watson is the leader of the nuclear base and I think that its fun that that all the employees wear a big photo of themselves. They are all smiling whereas they themselves haven’t got anything to smile about. The security of this place is a lot better than most places but it seems that once inside the base its pretty easy to get around unless spotted by someone. The sets in the nuclear base are still impressive, they are slightly undermined by the great location scenes but I still think that the setting of the nuclear base works perfectly.

The death of Doctor Cater is a sad one because Rex Robinson is very good. His death was quite spectacular and it was done well because he was possessed and this started in the previous episode so at least it was done 10 seconds before he died. I thought that Glyn Houston was a good piece of casting as Professor Watson. I liked how Watson went from being untrusting of the Doctor to pretty much giving him free reign of the base.

The phone call that Professor Watson makes to his wife and child is heart-breaking because he thinks that it’s the end. He’s even lying to his wife and its made slightly embarrassing when the moment he puts the phone down the crisis is over. Despite the episode taking place in just the nuclear base, its surprising that the story moves along as much as it does. Ok there are many sets the story uses but it is essentially the same location and its credit to Bob Baker and Dave Martin (along with Lennie Mayne) for making the story work.

Sarah is hypnotised for the third time in two stories which must be annoying for Elisabeth Sladen. After the good work she did in the previous episode it seems like she’s taken a step backwards in this episode.

The ending is a bit odd because it doesn’t feature the Doctor or Sarah in a proper way. The last shot is of Watson. That said I thought that the episode was another solid one and despite being hypnotised again, this is turning out to be a fitting end to Sarah Jane’s involvement in the show. Halfway through and it feels like it’s a million times better than ‘The Masque of Mandragora’ which isn’t exactly saying a great deal but it’s the truth.

The Hand of Fear - Episode 1

The next four days aren’t going to be very happy ones because this story marks the end of Elisabeth Sladen’s time on the show. Today’s episode is her 71^st episode and by the end will be on 74 and tied with Jacqueline Hill in all time appearances. Although by the time she makes her final appearance in show I think she will have overtaken both Katy Manning and William Russell.

As opening scenes go, the one for this episode is rather good and gives the story an epic feel to it. It almost felt like an annoyance that the focus of the story was shifting back to earth. When it does go to earth it’s a rare thing of them filming in a quarry which is suppose to be a quarry and not an alien landscape. The shot of the rock exploding and it all falling on the camera is one of the most impressive shots that I have seen in Doctor Who (that didn’t require CGI). The fact that Sarah is caught in the falling rocks should have been a big indication that Elisabeth Sladen’s involvement in the show was about to come to an end. I’ve heard that Sladen wanted to go out with a bang and that’s about as close as she would get.

Eldrad Must Lie is the line the Sarah Jane utters and this is where Sarah’s hypnotism really begins. Her new menace is either undermined or enhanced by the Andy Pandy vibe of her costume. Personally I think that it slightly undermines it but not to an extent that ruins the story. It’s largely due to Elisabeth Sladen that it works to the extent that it does. It’s mainly down to the stare that Sladen uses for most of the episode, she is cold and is far from the Sarah that we all know and love. Not since the early days of her time on the show has Elisabeth Sladen been allowed to do something different with the character. Tom Baker is almost the companion in this episode as his performance falls below Sladen’s and that is perhaps as it should be in this story.

When the story moves to the nuclear base it just increases how epic this story feels. The idea that they were filming in a proper nuclear base just seems made by today’s standards because there would be so much red tape and security checks that it wouldn’t be worth doing it now so to be able to get away with it in 1976 is something that adds a great deal of excitement to the serial. Ok so some most of the scenes in this setting are filmed in a studio but just the sight of what we get in this episode and what we will get in future episodes.

The effect of the hand growing back its fingers and moving around is a great one and makes for a great cliffhanger. After being slightly bored with the previous story, I am happy to say that I have had my faith restored in the show and this opening episode does everything that a companions final episode should be and I think that the final three episodes will be a fitting send off to one of the most loved companions in Doctor Who history.

The Masque of Mandragora - Episode 4

This opening story hasn’t been the best as far as I am concerned. I think that it’s fair to say that it’s been a bit of a damp squib. Louis Marks might not be the most successful writer in the show’s history but I think that he has written solid stories in the past. Sadly this isn’t one of his best. Despite not really caring or understanding what was been talked about. I did find the performance and directing to be enough to find some good stuff in it.

I remember during some of the William Hartnell and Patrick Troughton stories where I would have quite happily skipped that story if I wasn’t so determined to watch/listen to every Doctor Who story. Whilst I haven’t felt like whilst I have been watching the Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker era, I came pretty close during this story. I think the main stumbling block has been that it is a classic case of style of substance.

The idea of a ball featuring in the final episode does make it seem like it’s a final episode because it’s such a grand thing and its done very well indeed. The BBC has a reputation for doing good costumes in period dramas and that is definelty the case during this episode and in fact the previous episodes. I got the feeling that this episode doesn’t have much of a fast end of episode pace to it that I would expect. I still like the ball that happens but I think that the pace doesn’t really change in this episode compared to the previous ones.

The way that the whole thing was dealt with was rather good but I wasn’t really bothered by what happened to the mandragora helix. This episode wasn’t anywhere near as bad as it could have been but I still think that this story was a disappointment. The next story is the final one to feature Elisabeth Sladen and it’s a shame that her penultimate story is such a weak one. I was watching the extras and this story was due to the success of ‘Pyramids of Mars’ which is a pseudo historical story. The difference between that story and this one is that the Mars story was a more traditional Doctor Who story that had something to it and this one this one doesn’t and so it wont go down as one of the finest Tom Baker stories.

The Masque of Mandragora - Episode 3

The thing about this story is that part of me likes it but then part of me is totally frustrated with it. The opening episode is always the best one because it sets things up and its usually the cliffhangers in future episodes that make the thing work. The previous cliffhanger was total disappointing and so the episode started off in a slightly disappointing way. Not even Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen can get me excited.

I will be honest and say that the whole sacrificing angle to be rather tiresome and as a result I thought that the whole episode was a massive disappointment for this reason. The thing is that unless this sort of thing interests you then you are not going to be that excited by things. That’s not a critiscm of Louis Marks or of Philip Hinchcliffe but just that this story isn’t working for me. There are probably people who aren’t fans of stories that I like such as ‘Inside the Spaceship’. Doctor Who attracts different sorts of fans and some will like sacrificing.

I haven’t mentioned until now that Tim Pigott-Smith and that’s largely because he has been up against Gareth Armstrong’s Giuliano and in this episode he does have a few scenes on his own but it does seem like he is a bit wasted in this story and the role could have gone to someone else and Pigott-Smith could have had a meatier role which would befit his talents.

The bit where Federico unmasks Hiernoymous only to see a glowing sphere where his face use to be was the only good moment in the entire episode and that was the cliffhanger. I think that I have finally lost patience with this story and its probably lucky that the next episode is the final one because this is a story that has failed to grip me in any way. I think had it not been for the costumes and the location filming then I would have been really annoyed with this story.

The Masque of Mandragora - Episode 2

The Doctor uses humour to get out of feeling the chop from the executioner. It’s the future as far as Doctor Who during Tom Baker’s time is concerned. After escaping he manages to run around the set of the Prisoner which is worth it because it does look beautiful.  Sarah spends the first part of this episode about to be sacrificed. She is rescued by the Doctor just in the nick of time. There cant be many more ways that Sarah can be put in significant peril so its just as well that it does last too much into this episode.

There is a small bit of interest in what is going on between Giuliano and Federico. Giuliano is worried that if Federico is ruler he will stifle learning. I like Jon Laurimore and think that  his performance is just behind Norman Jones’. Gareth Armstrong’s Giuliano is a bit wetter but due to Armstrong’s performance its not as wet as it could be. Norman Jones returns to Doctor Who as Hieronymous, he had previously appeared as Major Baker and here he is just as intense as he was in the story. His performance is somewhat overshadowed by his huge beard. That is a beard and a half that he wears in this story.

It’s not an episode that feels like it has a lot of padding but I would be at a push to try and describe any of the major points of this episode. The whole thing plods along at a good pace and I thought that the performances of several people helped make this more interesting. I don’t find any to do with predicting the stars and horoscopes and all that stuff so that’s maybe why I have never found this story to be particularly interesting. However it does have a small charm to it and I am still looking forward to the final episodes.

The Masque of Mandragora - Episode 1

The first episode of ‘The Masque of Mandragora’ is the start of the fourteenth season of Doctor Who and also the third with Tom Baker as the Doctor. It is also the penultimate adventure for Elisabeth Sladen and this is a story that I haven’t really thought that highly of in the past. I have often thought that it’s a rather dull story.

Sad of me I know but I quite like the change in font used to list the title and episode number. That not the only thing that’s new in this fourteenth season. I think that it’s a nice opening scene with the Doctor and Sarah wandering through the TARDIS corridors. It ends with Sarah and the Doctor walking into the second control room. This is the first time that we have seen anything other than the bright white console room. It’s a nice relatively small console room and has atmosphere and character in the sort of way that the main room just doesn’t have.

Something of interest is that the location scenes were filmed in Portmeirion which is where they filmed the original version of ‘The Prisoners’. The location work is just as good as it was when Douglas Camfield directed the previous story. Rodney Bennett returns to the show and uses what he does very well.

Federico is like Chase in the previous adventure, its clear that he is a nasty piece of work from the moment that we see him. Giuliano comes across as the exact opposite of Federico. It seems at first like this is just going to be a family dispute. This continues a bit more before Federico is talking to the Doctor. I like the line when the Doctor says he cant see Federico’s future because he doenst have one. This is the 47^th episode for Tom Baker as the Doctor and whilst at times during the previous story that he was a bit cross more times than would be expected of him but here he’s a lot more calm and confident than he has seemed in the past.

The way that the episode ends is one of those that slightly frustrates me because it ends with the Doctor about to have his head lopped off but the camera focuses in on the sword and it ends just before it goes in. I always think that this sort of thing is rather silly cause we all know that he makes it as the departure of a Doctor always makes the news so it wasn’t going to be his last episode and I cant even think of a reason why I should really be worried about that. The only reason that anyone would have to tune in the next week is to see how he gets out of it. I like this opening episode as it has a fresher feel to it than the previous stories. Whether this good feeling will continue for the rest of the story will be seen but I am looking forward to find out.

The Seeds of Doom - Episode 6

I think that its fair to say that this six part story has felt longer than six parts. True there have been some good moments but there have also been moments that have very hard to sit through. I think that the main problem with this story is that there hasn’t been six episodes worth of plot. They could easily have condensed all the stuff on the Antarctic down to one episode and the rest could easily have fitted into three episodes. Then this would have been a much better story. As I watch it I just cant find myself getting that excited with whats happening.

The fact that UNIT are in the story but the Brigadier or Benton aren’t in it is something that doesn’t work for me. The person who is leading them (the brigadier is in Geneva) doesn’t quite carry it off and I just think that its UNIT without any of the joy that comes with it. They are just as ineffective as ever but it just doesn’t carry the same weight as if Nicholas Courtney was shouting his way through things.

The models of the Krynoid over the house is quite a good one. It shows why models are better than CSO and even shows that compared to the CGI that 2014 Doctor Who could achieve, model work still works and when its done right can actually  be better than what we have today. The explosions were also quite good but on the downside it does ruin what was a good model of the house.

Something that was a bit differnet in this episode was Tom Baker’s performance. The last couple of episodes he has been shouting and very angry whereas in this episode he was bit grumpy but on the whole he was a bit more his usual self. This is good because as much as its fun to see a less pantomime version of the Doctor (which we will get in future stories), I would rather the Doctor not be as grim as the deaths are in this story. Baker’s second season shows that he is on his way to becoming the best Doctor of the classic era if not the best ever. Elisabeth Sladen was due to leave in this story but would stay on. I think that this story was a sign that the character had pretty much reached its course. The average time that a companion has spent on the show is currently 48 episodes (I will use this average stat if future as I like it so much).

Scorby’s death is quite a grim one (not the first or the last). I think that the reason for him being out was a bit silly but that doesn’t detract from the death itself as he drowns. Sgt Henderson’s death is also quite a grim death as he ended up as compost. Considering that this show was suppose to be a family show, its not particularly bothered with how far they push thing and that’s a good thing as far as I am concerned. I mentioned in the previous episode that I wanted more Chase and Doctor scenes and it’s the same in this episode although we do get a great fight scene between the two which ends with Chase becoming compost in what could be argued is the most violent death in Doctor Who (at this point). Despite the fact we don’t see blood of the rollers or hear any bone crunching, the scream of Chase and the knowing what is happening is perhaps more grim that if they had blood and bones.

This was the last Doctor Who story to be directed by Douglas Camfield. Camfield has directed 50 episodes of the show (including this one) and he is 11 episodes ahead of Christopher Barry. Camfield’s first contribution was ‘Planet of Giants’ and over the course of 11 years, he has directed all the story he has been involved in with a regimented familiarity and when you look at his stories its clear to see why he is one of the best directors in Doctor Who. Despite not being totally over the moon with this story, I think that Robert Banks Stewart has been a good addition to the show and if this had been a four part adventure then the story would have been better than what it ultimately ended up.

The Seeds of Doom is an average story to what has been largely an average season.

The Seeds of Doom - Episode 5

The penultimate episode of this story starts off with the reminder of how Dunbar died and how silly the Krynoid looked staggering towards the camera. This reprise seems to go on for an age before it resumes with the Doctor, Scorby, Sarah and two guards running into a cottage. I like how the Doctor is very angry in the early stages of this episode spending a fair amount of time shouting at Scorby.

The Krynoid is very big now by the middle of the episode. Although despite the epic size that Krynoid can (and does), I find the simple effect of vines smashing through windows to be more effective than the huge krynoid running rampant around the house. The effects used to make the plants that are overpowering Sarah, Scorby and the Butler is simple yet effective and these do more to create an impression of terror than the CSO version that we get.

Chase continues his ideal that humans are replaceable and krynoids aren’t. It’s a fair point but it doesn’t diminish that the character is a strong one and at one point he seems to have gone a bit mad when he says to Scorby that the krynoids have the right of the earth and that humans are parasites. His madness is made very obvious when he is talking to hit plants and has his legs crossed. If there had been more Chase in this story then I might have felt more positively towards it. In fact I wish there were more scenes between the Doctor and Chase because Tom Baker and Tony Beckley are two very different actors but together they worked very well. Elisabeth Sladen has been very good over the course of the previous five episodes and showed some of her old self. This is her 65^th episode in the role and she’s currently the fifth longest serving companion and is just nine episodes behind Jacqueline Hill. This is also Tom Baker’s 45^th episode as the Doctor, Philip Hinchcliffe’s 41^st episode as the producer and Robert Holmes’ 45^th as script editor.

I’m not saying that it’s a dull episode but the episode really gets going in the final five or six minutes of the episode when the plants start to attack Scorby, Sarah and the butler. It’s made even better with Chase watching on in joy.  Sadly the butler meets his end during this scene so the number of character gets reduced further. The Doctor is given an ultimatum of giving himself up to the krynoid by dawn. What I don’t get is why if the Krynoid is as powerful as it seems does it wait for so long for the Doctor to give himself up, thus allowing him to come up with a plan?

The episode ends with Chase smirking to himself and it just confirms that he is the best thing in the episode. Whilst I think that the story is building up to a finale I think that there is something missing from the adventure.

The Seeds of Doom - Episode 4

The one thing that I knew was coming when I started to watch this episode was knowing that Tom Baker was going to come crashing through the rooftop window. That is about as energetic as the Doctor gets in this episode. I don’t quite know what the theory was behind this decision but it does seem odd that the lead character should be so inactive at such an important part of the serial.

The sight of the Doctor with a gun is a rare one and we know that the Doctor wont use it but he basically says that the others don’t know that so its clear it won’t be much of a problem. The Doctor’s fortunes take a drastic turn for the worst when he becomes attached to a machine that makes compost. It takes most of the episode to get him to the point and even then nothing happens so Tom Baker is really a bit wasted in this episode and it falls to Elisabeth Sladen to do a lot of the work.

Chase really comes across as a nasty piece of work when he doesn’t seem to concerned with Keeler’s transformation. I think he maybe one of my favourite villains in recent years in Doctor Who. Keeler does suffer a rather grim fate in this episode as he starts off as his normal self and by the end of the episode he has become a krynoid. It’s a shame really because he was a likeable person but he just chose a rather rubbish person to work for.

Miss Ducat’s involvement in the previous episode seems to be more relevant because she gets to distract Chase in a nice scene. It seems at first that its just another random scene with a dear old lady but soon it becomes clear for the reason of her unexpected visit. When she gets into a car we learn that she is sort of working with Thackeray and Dunbar. Dunbar slightly redeems himself when he reveals to Thackeray that he has made a mistake but doesn’t go the full hog and admit what he has done. This happens just moments before he meets a rather grim ending at the tentacles of a krynoid. It’s definelty a trait of the Hinchcliffle/Holmes era of the show that people who die in this show don’t exactly have a nice ending.

The cliffhanger does come across as slightly comedic because it’s the Krynoid staggering towards the camera. I know that they were intending some quite dramatic to end the episode but sadly it doesn’t quite work out that way. It’s another episode which seems to have a bit of padding but not as much as there was in the second episode. I think that this story is going to be just as I have thought of it in the past. It’s neither terrible nor is it great. I think that on reflection that they could have done a four episode and two episode split just like they did in the previous season.

The Seeds of Doom - Episode 3

I always feel bad when I accuse an episode of padding but in the case of the previous one, I feel that I was in the right. As I started to watch this episode I was hoping that things would improve a lot.

The explosions at the cliffhanger were really good and they looked just as good at the beginning of this episode. The story moves back to blightey and the shift of the story seems to have happened now. I cant say that I am totally sad to be leaving Antartica because whilst I did like the base under siege vibe that was going on, it does mean that the story can open up and more characters can become involved. There is a scene that occurs where the Doctor and Sarah are talking to Dunbar and Thackeray and its clear that the Doctor and Sarah are facing an uphill battle to persuade Dunbar and Thackeray of whats going on. There was a moment where Sarah seemed to be going back to the early days of her character by being a bit feisty.

After being sidelined in the previous episode, Chase becomes more involved in the story. He’s wonderfully bad in and doesn’t seem like he would be out of place at a pantomime playing some over the top character. That’s not to say that this gets in the way from being a believable villain but in this episode its clear that he is the main villain which is an improvement on the previous episode. Chase’s disregard for humanity is made evident when he reacts to the loss of a pod more than of human life.

Miss Ducat does seem like more padding but it was at least less noticeable and it was worth it just because of Sylvia Coleridge who played Ducat. Sadly her part in the story is all too brief but at least it does serve a purpose and that is to get the Doctor to that long overdue scene with Chase. I think that when it does happen it’s a great moment and Tony Beckley is more than capable of holding his own against Tom Baker.

The grounds of his house are rather nice to look at. Thankfully we get to see a fair amount of it because there are two chases which are quite good action sequences. After the poor attempt to try and convince us that by painting a quarry white that it could pass as Antarctica, its good to enjoy some location filming and Douglas Camfield directs these scenes very well and actually directs the studio scenes rather well. It seems like he was having an off day in the previous episode.

The episode’s cliffhanger is a strong one because it involves Sarah and she is about to be infected by the pod which about to open up. The Doctor has a birds eye view of this and the question will be just how close the Doctor will leave it before getting involved. I really liked this episode and thought that it was much better than the previous one. There was some excitement going on during the course of the previous 25 minutes and whilst I am still not sold on the story I can’t deny that I have been intrigued by what’s been going on.

The Seeds of Doom - Episode 2

As I start to watch the second episode I am wondering whether my opinion of this episode would change. I think that over the course of the episode my question was answered and not in a totally positive way. When Winlett looks at the camera in the early stages of the episode he does look a bit like Tom Baker. Its something that I always think everytime I watch this story. First time I ever saw this story I thought it was him and that I missed something.

When Boycie, sorry Scorby appears on screen he becomes main villain in the episode and that’s partly down to Chase not really featuring in the episode. It’s really difficult to know who we are suppose to consider the main villain because a case could be made for Scorby, Chase and the Krynoids. Speaking of the Krynoids, sadly they are the Axos creatures that were used in ‘The Claws of Axos’ however on this occasion they have been painted green. I suppose that unless you were told you wouldn’t have noticed the difference but now I do then all I can think that that Axons change colour depending on the temperature.

Dunbar is another crony of Chase’s and is doing it more for power and the annoyance he’s felt of being overlooked. This was quite an interesting moment in an episode that was lacking interesting moments. The episode is really a lacklustre one and that because it only really gets going in the final few minutes of the episode. This isn’t the first story that Robert Banks Stewart has written for Doctor Who with his first being ‘Terror of the Zygons’ and at the moment I think that the Zygon story was the better one (so far).

The episode ends with a very big explosion and to call it a cliffhanger is probably over doing it. I wasn’t totally impressed with this episode as it did feel like an awful lot of padding was involved before we got to anything interesting. I don’t think that every episode is going to be like this this is definelty a decline in quality in terms of storytelling.

The Seeds of Doom - Episode 1

There have been so many four part stories recently that it feels weird that I am about to watch a six parter. This is the first six parter since ‘Genesis of the Daleks’ and this is the final story of Tom Baker’s second season. I haven’t been a particularly fan of this story but I am hoping that this will change over the course of the next six episodes.

The episode starts off with a photo and some fake snow, this might look impressive in 1976 but now it looks a little lacklustre. This scene set in Antarctica is a good opening scene because it introduces the setting and the supporting characters. I like the setting because it feels remote and claustrophobic. It harks back to the days of a base under siege story.

World Ecology Bereau (WEB) is the organisation that mentioned at the beginning of the episode and they have lured the Doctor into what’s been going on at the Antartic base. The villain of the episode is Harrison Chase (played by Tony Beckley) comes across as a horrible person from the moment that he appears. He walks around with gloves on and on baddies do that don’t they? He seems like he has the W.E.B in his back pocket which just confounds the idea that he’s a baddie. Although he does come across as a baddie with a soul.

John Challis appears in this episode as Scorby who is a thug of Chase’s. He would go on to play Boycie in the BBC classic ‘Only Fools and Horses’ and its spin-off ‘The Green Green Grass’. Michael Barrington plays Sir Colin Thackeray and he played the Governor in the BBC sitcom ‘Porridge’.  Two very recognisable (to me) comedy actors in one Doctor Who story isn’t something that happens very often and in the case of Challis, its hard to see him as a baddie but I just wonder where Marlene is.

Winlett becomes the first person to be infected by the pod and it doesn’t take long for him to be completely covered by the green stuff. He has quite the tough time in this episode and I think that he drew the short straw when it came to casting.

It’s eleven minutes before Elisabeth Sladen appears on screen after the Doctor appeared briefly at the beginning of the episode. Sladen doesn’t really do very much as the story doesn’t really allow her to get too involved. Tom Baker’s Doctor is very grumpy in this episode. There isn’t much in the way of humour for him which isn’t normal for his character.

The episode ends on rather a violent note and it doesn’t even feature the Doctor or Sarah. It’s an odd opening episode but still a good episode and I think that this six episode run might be a good one.

The Brain of Morbius - Episode 4

Let’s discuss the costume of Morbius now that its complete. It might look a bit silly with the head ware on but the rest of it looks quite good. I suppose on a BBC budget they couldn’t do the costume that they wanted but I still thought that the human hand was a nice touch.  The Doctor tries to get Solon to disconnect Morbius’ brain from the rest of its new body and tis clear that this isn’t going to happen. It’s another example of how slow the Doctor has become in his new incarnation to figure things out. He slightly gets the chance to redeem himself when he comes up with a plan to try and flush Morbius out with a special gas and that only kills Solon.

The ending of certain characters was a slight problem for me Kondo’s death is quite sad and happens early on. It would have been nice if he had survived until the end and would have had his hand reattached. Solon’s death was a bit of a cop out really because I think that considering he had been so involved in the story up until this point that he deserved a better ending. This wasn’t the way that Philip Madoc should have ended his time on the show but it seemed that he suffered from a lack of time because he was basically reduced to a supporting role which isn’t what he was really.

There is a rather fun mind battle between the Doctor and Morbius. We see faces in the mind screen which seem to suggest that William Hartnell wasn’t the first incarnation. This is of course nonsense as it could be argued that they were incarnations of Morbius but it’s something that gets bought up whenever this story and in particular this scene is discussed or watched. It’s the final encounter between the Doctor and Morbius and its not the sort of final battle that most people would have expected. It wasn’t a war of words or a fight with swords or anything like that but just a battle of who was the most powerful mentally.

Morbius’ death comes at the hand of the sisterhood who effectively push off a cliff. The last shot of him is spinning to the ground in the sort of way that Wile E Coyote use to fall to the ground. It’s quite a good if slightly odd effect though I don’t know if he should have been spinning around. That said it would normally be an issue if the Doctor weren’t the one that stopped/destroyed the villain but in this case, it worked that it was the Sisterhood that ended Morbius’ life. The sisterhood use the elixir on the Doctor which shows that they have pretty much got over their dislike of the Doctor.

I thought that it was a solid four part adventure. I don’t think that its as good as ‘Pyramids of Mars’ but it’s certainly one of the best Doctor Who stories in the classic era. The thing about this episode is that its one of those final episodes that doesn’t feel like it’s a final episode. That’s not to say that it was boring but it didn’t really feel like it was ending until the bit where the sisterhood are cornering Morbius. The story as it is continues the good trend that the show was heading on and this second season of Tom Baker’s is shaping up to be just as good as his first.

The Brain of Morbius - Episode 3

After two episodes, Morbius finally becomes involved in the story. The whole episode is building up to the when Morbius becomes more than a head in a jar. Sadly Sarah is still blind and that’s rather annoying, true it had a purpose in the previous episode but now they could have got round it somehow. Also if the Doctor said in the previous episode to Sarah that her vision should return in a couple of hours, why then did he then go to the Sisterhood for some of the elixir?

The Sisterhood are starting to lose their appeal as far as I am concerned. This is largely down to their first scene when the Sisterhood talk to the Doctor and they are still going on about his death. The issue of the elixir is solved by the Doctor and it’s a bit of a relief because it’s not the most important thing in the plot and yet it was the only thing that they would go on about so know they can get past this particular stumbling block.

Solon The shot of the green liquid pouring out of Morbius jar allowing the brain to just flop to one side is quite a grim image. Another grim image was when Solon shot Kondo and you actually see blood fly from his chest area. It’s perhaps another opportunity for Mary Whitehouse’s killjoy brigade to attack the show. Despite the potential hysterics that this woman would bring down on the show, I am happy that for once that production values aren’t at the centre of any problems with the show but instead the level of gore/violence is. Personally I think that there is just the right amount.

Doctor Who during this time was the era of borrowing from different movies and genres. Sort of the pre-Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz type thing. There is a Jekyll and Hyde theme before this episode and there is definelty a Frankenstein moment in this episode when Solon is working on the new body for Morbius. I was half expecting for Solon to shout “It’s alive!” at the top of his voice but sadly this didn’t happen.

On a totally random and weird topic. I quite like the day scenes set on Kahn. I think that its nice there are some light scenes in what is effectively a very dark episode. They only appear for a few moments and don’t actually contribute anything to the story but they I still like them.

The cliffhanger seems to be a nice mix of the previous two. That’s because it involves the new body for Morbius, Sarah and her being blind and unable to see anything. Whilst it looked nice I don’t think that it had the ending it should have done. It doesn’t weaken the episode because the whole episode kept me entertained from start to finish (despite the few moments that didn’t quite work) and the final episode should complement this story really well.

The Brain of Morbius - Episode 2

I wonder that if Terrance Dicks knew then what he knows now whether he would have wanted to take his name off this story because it’s a great little adventure and sure it might be stronger in tone than what Dicks would have seen during his time on the show but this is the sort of story that works for Tom Baker’s Doctor and for this period of the show.

It’s not very often I do this but my favourite line of the episode and possibly even the story is when Solon insults Kondo by calling him a “Chicken brain biological disaster”. It’s a great insult and shows why Solon is a really good character and Philip Madoc is such a good actor. The changes that Solon goes through in just one episode is quite remarkable and that helped me get past the last of anything really happening.

Once the episode gets over the reprise, the story starts with the Doctor talking to the Sisterhood. I commented that the sisterhood were a group that didn’t really get me interested in the story but this episode continues a change that I have noticed.

Morbius committed some crimes on Kahn which helps to explain why Morbius is held in the regard that he is. It forms part of a nice scene between the sisterhood and the Doctor where we learn that there is a bit of history between them and the Timelords. The Doctor soon finds himself about to be burnt at the stake by the sisterhood. Sort of out of the frying pan and into the fire so to speak. The shot of the flames in front of the Doctor is a good one. Sarah is blinded at the end of this scene and it seems to serve just one purpose and that is to make the cliffhanger seem more effective.

The scene between Kondo and Solon is a good one because Kondo shows Solon that he isn’t simply a simpleton. There is a nice bit of fear in Solon’s face and it shows that Solon isn’t quite as in control as he would like to think he is and it adds a nice bit of interest in their relationship. Solon’s involvement in this story becomes more interesting when during this episode we hear him talking to someone else who is clearly Morbius but this scene just shows that at best Solon is misguided and not the evil force that he pretends to be.

The episode seems to exist just to build up to the big reveal of Morbius is actually a brain in a jar. It’s one of two famous sci-fi brains in a jar. The other being Dave Lister in Red Dwarf VI. I think that the cliffhanger doesn’t quite have the shock that the previous one did but it’s still a good ending and I like that despite not a great deal happening in this episode, it’s still an engaging and interesting 25 minutes. It’s largely down to the performances from Baker, Sladen and Madoc but I think that this is a very dark and very entertaining adventure.

The Brain of Morbius - Episode 1

The Brain of Morbius is one of those stories used to highlight the Hinchcliffe era and one of those that was used to beat the show with during calls that it was too violent. This story was written by Terrance Dicks however due to ‘creative differences’ he withdrew his name from the script and Robert Holmes put a rather amusing name. Robin Bland is credited to writing this four part story so there wont be any more reference to Terrance Dicks or the creative issues. After being slightly disappointed with the previous story, I was hoping that the same problem would occur here. Like the first episode of ‘The Android Invasion’, it starts off in quite a dark tone. The opening shot is of what looks like a mutt from ‘The Mutants’ having its head cut off by a strange figure.

This episode sees the return of Philip Madoc. Madoc plays Doctor Solon who is quite obsessed with finding a human head. I love the way that he is being as nice as pie when the Doctor and Sarah arrive at his home. By the end of the episode, the Doctor and Sarah have been drugged just after the Doctor realised that a sculpture was in fact Morbius. The Doctor is conscious long enough for us to learn that he’s not perhaps the nicest person to have ever existed and thus this means that Solon is equally as sinister.

Christopher Barry returns to the directing chair and there is only one shot that really doesn’t work and I would have left out and it’s the blink and you’ll miss it shot of a chandelier falling onto the table. It looks like it has been sped up because it was done slowly and just doesn’t work in the course of the scene and it’s the one thing that lets the episode down.

Apart from Solon, the episode focuses on the Sisterhood who are at this time concerned with the elixir that is burning itself out. The sisterhood are worried that the Doctor has been sent by the Timelords to steal the flame. I have never really been a big fan of the Sisterhood in this story as I felt that they go in the way of the plot.  This time however I think that it actually works in the stories benefit. That’s because it does a great job of making the Timelords to be quite happy to meddle in the affairs of other planets and civilisations.

The cliffhanger is quite a good one as Sarah discovers what we know is Morbius but at this moment in time is a headless creature. It’s been a sound opening episode and I feel a lot more warmly to this episode than I did during the previous four. The performances were all perfect for the setting and I think that Christopher Barry has done a great job. I am optimistic that the rest of this story will live up to this episode and the slight disappointment of the previous story is soon to become a distant memory.

The Android Invasion - Episode 4

Maybe, just maybe I will find something in this final episode that will completely get rid of what I have written about this story in the previous two episodes. Maybe I wasn’t giving episodes two and three the chance that they deserved and that the Kraal’s plot isn’t as convoluted as I previously though. Well as I start to watch the final episode of this story I am reminded that the cliffhanger didn’t really get a mention. At the end of the previous episode, the Doctor and Sarah are about to get on the rocket that is going to earth and they don’t get in the cases before it lifts off and they are affected by the G-Force. The close up on Elisabeth Sladen is great because according to the info text on the DVD, it allows Sladen to pull at the sides of her face to give the impression of the G-Force. This is actually quite a sad episode because it’s the last time that John Levene and Ian Marter will appear in this show. At least they appear as their normal versions as opposed to the android versions.

After the reprise is over and the Doctor and Sarah are back awake its quickly shown that there is an android version of the Doctor. The action actually moves to earth with Crayford arriving back and getting in contact with space command. It’s revealed towards the end that Crayford has been wearing the eye patch unnecessarily. Quite how he didn’t figure out to check out his eye at any point during his time with the Kraal’s. It’s another problem with Terry Nation’s writing that is slowly becoming outdated to Doctor Who.

The CSO shot of the capsules landing was terrible. Letts’ fondness for CSO has always been a problem when he was producer but as director he could have done something else and had he been producer and someone else tried that then he would have put his foot down. Sadly this didn’t happen and its one of the few disappointing moments in this episode. The Doctor encountering his android self is quite a nice scene although I think that its made a bit silly when the real Doctor jumps through a window. Thankfully there is a second scene between the two Doctors and it’s a very well directed scene and Letts’ redeems himself slightly here but I should say he’s still a solid director and has directed this story well overall.

John Levene’s last word is “Yes” and his last scene is when he is knocked out of the floor and his android version is standing over him. Ian Marter’s final scene is just as bad because he is tied up with General Finch and being untied by Sarah. That’s it, there is no goodbye scene like he got in ‘Terror of the Zygons’. It’s a shame that after 62 episodes and 31 episodes respectively that they two characters weren’t treated with a bit more respect. I know that I haven’t been very positive about Harry during his time on the show, he is at least entitled to a better send off than what we got here.

The problem with this serial is that it is largely unsatisfying. There are some positives in this serial but on the whole I think that the problems such as a convoluted plot and disregard for certain characters is what has slightly devalued this serial since I watched it in the past. I suspect that if I watched it again in one sitting in the future then I might think a bit more positively about it but I cant deny that I have been disappointed with what I have seen. Not the worst story of the season but not the greatest.

The Android invasion - EPisode 3

The penultimate episode of story spends the first seven minutes or so dealing with a bomb going off. At one moment it’s said that there is nine minutes before the bomb goes off. It’s the longest nine minutes that I have felt for some time. Despite their being a short amount of time it doesn’t feel like there is much of a build-up.

The one few bits of comfort come in the form of Crayford. There is a bit of an explanation about why Crayford is working for the Kraal’s. Crayford believes that he is going to return to earth and the Kraal’s are going to help him. Crayford’s return to Earth has been prepared and so his return (arranged by the Kraal’s) won’t be so much of a shock. It’s one of the few things that the Kraal’s do that actually makes sense. Of course it’s going to go wrong at some point but at least that moment will come along and it’s something to enjoy.

The Doctor’s best moment comes when he is tied up with the bomb right in front of him. It’s a nice little scene. Sarah is quite inventive in this episode. It only really happens when she electrocutes the android guard but it’s still a great little moment. This is another episode where Harry appears and again he makes more of a contribution to the story than he did in the later stages of his time on the show.

It really doesn’t make sense as to why they are going to the trouble of recreating one English village when they plan to bombard the planet with some bacteria. Surely they wouldn’t have to bother with any of that and instead just perfect the bacteria and use that instead. Oh well it just gives Terry Nation the opportunity to cruise in writing terms and despite Barry Letts’ best efforts there is little to find exciting.

This has to be the first story that I have watched for quite some time that is worse than I previously thought. I think that when it’s watched in one sitting then it’s easy to overlook things and thus enjoy it a bit more and so as a result this is the one story of the season that I have become disappointed with. I think that the problem with the story is that it’s a convoluted plot and I just cant get beyond that. It’s a plot that also doesn’t have the mileage to go four episodes. In terms of plot development, it doesn’t really achieve anything, its not until the very end that it seems to be moving towards something. Its definelty the weakest Terry Nation script.

The Android Invasion - Episode 2

After the rather intriguing reprise there is an unusually slow start. After Sarah rescues the Doctor they spend a bit of time running and then they have a sit down. There is a bit of explanation about Guy Crayford and the idea that people on earth think he is dead. This is quite an important moment in the story and will become relevant in later episodes.

The ugly looking face that was shown at the end of the previous episode is called a Kraal and as a mask it’s quite good and the Kraal’s are quite well realised. Sadly the problem comes from the fact that their whole plan is rather convoluted. Convoluted to the point that it could have been thought up by the Master. Even the information text on the DVD seem to be taking a dig at this point.

Despite the weird goings on, Sarah and the Doctor still think that they are on earth and when they encounter Benton they think that he’s the real Benton. It’s great the John Levene is back in the show especially as he’s not the usual Benton. Ian Marter is another person that appears as a different version of a character we’ve previously met. For viewers watching, its only been nine weeks since Harry left the series. He’s been more useful in this episode than he was in most of the episodes that he appeared in.

There’s a slightly frustrating thing where Sarah hurts her ankle. It’s a terribly clichéd thing that happens but I shouldn’t really be surprised about this. But what started out as a clichéd thing turns into an surprising turn of events for Sarah. I think that Elisabeth Sladen and Tom Baker give fine performances in this episode but it doesn’t happen until they have their scene in the shop. Sadly Terry Nation seems to have taken his foot of the accelerator in terms of mystery and excitement. It’s only down to Barry Letts that this wasn’t a total dud.

It doesn’t happen until the very end of this episode but the Doctor finally twigs what’s going on just before the big reveal. It’s an odd thing that it takes until the final moments of the second episode before it’s all put together. Normally it wouldn’t take this long for the Doctor to put two and two together.

The cliffhanger is fantastic. There is no other word for it. I love the fact that it sort of comes out of nowhere as its never really implied that the Sarah that the Doctor is talking to is an android. The last shot is of an android Sarah with her face off. The first time that I ever saw this I was completely surprised with what I saw. It was a great ending to what was an ok episode. I won’t say that I was bored by what I was watching but I just think that it seemed to lack something. Can’t quite put my finger on it but its far from the worst story ever but I am surprised with how underwhelmed I have felt about this episode.

The Android Invasion - Episode 1

I watch todays episode at the end of a very warm day and it looks like this episode could have been filmed today. The story is written by Terry Nation and its weird that there isn’t a Dalek in sight. The only other time he has contributed to the show where a Dalek didn’t feature was the 1964 adventure ‘The Keys of Marinus’ and so it does show that can he write a good solid story without his famous creations involved. The episode starts with quite a shocking opening. Someone who appears to be a UNIT soldier is staggering through the woods. After a few minute it appears that he jumps to his death. It’s this sort of thing that got Mary Whitehouse all annoyed. As much as I enjoy the fact that she got annoyed, I do wonder quite why it was there. Surely there was another method for him to be killed. Of course the beauty of this story is that he’s back to his usual self just a few minutes later.

This is the only story that the Doctor shows a fondness for Ginger Pop. There is a brief mention at the beginning of this episode and its something that’s fairly common in tv and film where if something or someone gets mentioned then it will crop up again at some point in the story.

The story has a weird intrigue about it because it starts with the UNIT soldier jumping to his death and coming back alive and then it continues with the Doctor and Sarah arriving at the pub just as people walk in acting like zombies and at the turn of the hour start acting normal. There are a good number of close ups in the pub scenes which would have been ok if not for the fact that some of the locals do look like they have just come off the set of ‘The Wicker Man’. Barry Letts is the director for this story which explains why there are some very good moments in this episode.

It doesn’t take long for it to become apparent that Robots are behind things and are the one dressed in white shooting at the Doctor and Sarah. The title has androids in it so at some point it was going to feature in the episode at some point. Nation has gone to the trouble of only featuring it briefly.

Crayford is the first human that we encounter who doesn’t seem to be a robot He does however have an eye patch which means that he is a baddie. He’s sitting in the Brigadier’s office. It’s a shame that we don’t see the Brigadier in this story as I think it would have made this story even better.

The cliffhanger is a good one because we finally see an alien face though its through a small hole in the wall. It’s been an interesting opening episode with a lot of action to keep me entertained and intrigued enough to watch the next episode.

Pyramdis of Mars - Episode 4

The final shot of the previous episode wasn’t mentioned in my review and it’s a good shot of Sutekh with his flashing green eyes. It was a good cliffhanger and it’s a good start to the episode. The first scene between the Doctor and Sutekh is a great scene and its been worth waiting until this moment to see him. It’s not a short scene and instead sometime has been given to set Sutekh up as the villain that he was made out to be in the previous episodes. I was surprised that this scene was so long because I would have expected them to just get on with the action in the final episode. There is one shot of Sutekh which saw him stand up and a hand can be seen sliding out and going behind the chair. This is perhaps one of the most famous scenes in the story and even the show. I can only imagine that it was to prompt Gabriel Woolf to stand up. It’s a funny obvious goof and does slightly undermine the good work that was being done on screen.

What happens in the middle of this episode is that the story moves to Mars and there comes a sequence which seems to be borrowed from ‘Death to the Daleks’ where the scenes move through a series of puzzles and tests. This even gets acknowledged by Sarah at one point. There is a nice logic puzzle that the Doctor has to figure out when he has to try and figure which mummy is telling the truth and decide which button will free Sarah and which would kill her.

There is a fair amount of CSO that is used in this episode and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. One moment where it didn’t work was when Scarman was in the final room and the moving background seemed to blend in with his shirt. It’s been a while since I commented on CSO and so its nice to get back to familiar territory in this review and I think that it worked well on the whole.

I quite liked the idea that there is a time delay which allows the Doctor and Sarah to get back to earth before Sutekh gets there. It means we get one final scene between the Doctor and Sutekh which was just as good as the first. This episode didn’t disappoint and it ended with the house going up in flames which is what was mentioned at the beginning of the story. This is the best story of the season so far and everything about it was great to watch and its not hard to see why this is one of the most popular stories in the classic era of Doctor Who. At this moment this story is the second best story that I have rated on with ‘The Ark in Space’ being in the number one spot.