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problem with Terry Nation’s writing that is slowly becoming outdated to Doctor Who.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.
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