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.

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.

Terror of the Zygons - Episode 3

The penultimate episode of this story is one where thing need to be introduced to keep the interest going because after the initial reaction to the Zygons has past, the story needs to have something else to keep the interest going. The reprise was of the Doctor being chased by the Loch Ness monster which as we all know is being controlled by the Zygon. Whereas the shots with the Doctor and the Loch Ness looked good the thing is that they never actually mix. In the reprise it does and it’s a shame to say that they don’t work quite so well.

The action moves to Forgill Castle which despite the rather lacklustre model/photo, the castle set looks very impressive. Every scene that takes place in the castle set is interesting and I wished that there were more because you could spend ages looking at various bits of it.

The effect of changing Sister Lamont to the Zygon is another good effect. I still think that Sister Lamont is one of the funniest characters in the serial. Not funny because it’s a poor character but funny because it seems like she’s escaped from an insane asylum or maybe she’s auditioning for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The final good effect is that of the Zygon ship rising from the bottom of the sea. It’s a good model shot and works well. Even when it’s coming out of the sea, it still is an impressive sight.

The sister waking the rock on the back of the head on a soldier is quite a shocking for family viewing. This is definelty not something that Barry Letts would have done and that’s not me saying it was something wrong but it’s clear that the show is being run differently. On the downside the bit where Sarah walking into the secret lair of the Zygons was a tad bit predictable and typical of what the female companion would be doing in future Doctor Who stories. It was redeemed slightly a few moments later though. I love the scene where Sarah is trying to tell if Harry is the real Harry and it’s only by him saying “old girl” that she decides that he is the real one.

The cliffhanger is rather disappointing considering how good the effect of the ship rising is. I think that it certainly lacks the drama of the first episode cliffhanger. Despite this rather damp squib to the episode, I think that the story is still a strong one with a very good creature and some very good pieces of casting. I am enjoying the fact that this feels like a different era of the show and not a Pertwee story with a different actor playing the role.

Terror of the Zygons - Episode 2

The first Zygon adventure continues with as much intrigue and darkness as the first. After the very good cliffhanger the story continues very quickly and before there is time to brief and settle down the Doctor is stood by the Sister. Sarah has disappeared and Sister Lamont is fantastically cold when she is talking to the Doctor. The bit where the Doctor and Sarah have been trapped in the decompression chamber is great because the Doctor puts Sarah into a hypnosis and does the same to himself.

I still don’t think that Tom Baker’s Doctor is suited to dealing with UNIT. In his brief scene with Benton it just doesn’t quite work and I think that it worked much better when it was Jon Pertwee. It’s perhaps the wisest thing that they have decided to pretty much do away with the UNIT stories because with a new Doctor should come a new direction for the show and UNIT was very much a product of the Pertwee era and worked for him but definitely doesn’t work for Baker.

Most of the Zygon mask/headgear does look quite good but it’s the mouth area that it looks a bit ropey. I think that it suffers from the same problem that the Vogans had in the previous story but that’s the only problem with the Zygon costume. From head to toe they look gruesome and they look rather effective. There is a nice shot where we see the real Sister Lamont and the real ‘caber’ and it leads to a good CSO where a Zygon.

I like this episode beause we get to see evil Harry. Of course its not the real Harry but a Zygon duplicate. When he comes in it turns into a nice little action sequence which seemed very much out of the Pertwee era. There’s a great shot of Harry’s eyes starring at the screen which is very similar to Capaldi’s stare in the 50^th Anniversary special. It’s quite a shocking moment when Zygon Harry goes for Sarah with a pitchfork, misses and then gets impaled on it. There is another big sequence which comes when the Doctor is trying to hide from the big creature. Whilst Tom Baker is good and some of the shots of the creature are good, its not a particularly great cliffhanger compared to the previous one. It’s still a solid episode with some great moments but it’s the ending that lets it down. It’s a shame but the opening story to the thirteenth season is one that has lots to enjoy and very little to knock.

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 80^th 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 47^th 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.

Inferno - Episode 7

It’s hard to believe that this is the last episode of the season. I only started the Pertwee era on January 24^th. This is because a normal 1960’s season of Doctor Who would be about 39-44 episodes long whereas this season is only 25. At this rate I should rush through these seasons in no time at all.

The story moves back to the first universe and its just as things are starting to get interesting as the drilling gets closer to penetration. You would think that with just 25 minutes to tell the story that they would move quicker than they did. The Doctor appears and he doesn’t get up but is put in bed. Even when he’s unconscious, the Doctor is able to be quite useful and that gets round the problem of making the Doctor useful but not making the jump from universe to universe seem like changing buses. He does have a great moment when he goes slightly mad and starts to wreck some of the instruments.

The way that Stahlman is killed and the drilling is stopped just in the nick of time is quite a tense few moments. I have been very impressed with Olaf Pooley from the very beginning and whilst his transformation happens very quickly in this episode, it doesn’t detract from what has been a consistently solid character. I think the moment when Stahlman starts gets some of the green slime and smothers it over his mouth is the sort of thing that wouldn’t be out of place in a hammer film. It was good how Greg and Petra ended up together as it was obvious in both universes that this was going to happen. I thought that Greg had grown on me and this might be down to the other Greg but I didn’t find him annoying. Petra has also been a good character and played brilliantly by Sheila Dunn. It’s not been the greatest character that’s ever been created but Dunn did better than some actresses would have done with the role.

The final scene is a strange one in the grand scheme of things. It’s Liz’s final scene (though at the time they wouldn’t have known it). The way in which the Doctor rather angrily speaks to the Brigadier and then appears after finding himself back in the rubbish top is quite amusing because of the sheepish way that the Doctor asks for the Brigadier for help.

As an episode I thought that it ended well. It didn’t rush itself and took its time and as a result it’s a satisfying ending and I liked it. After seven episodes it was good that I didn’t find myself disappointed with how things went. All the performances and the writing have helped this be the perfect final story to the perfect season. Before starting this season, I probably would have said that this was my favourite and I still love this story but I think that the Silurians story is the marginally stronger story. I still stand by the fact that this is my favourite season because there isn’t a dud story. I think that the season would have benefited from having shorter episodes as three seven episode stories is just too much but apart from that I think that Jon Pertwee’s first season as the Doctor is a success. It’s a shame that Caroline John didn’t get the goodbye scene that she deserved as she has been a great joy of this season. If you would bear with me whilst I go into stats mode, Caroline John has appeared in 25 episodes and has the third shortest involvement in Doctor Who ahead of Jackie Lane (19) and Adrienne Hill (8).

Inferno - Episode 6

As we approach the end of this story it seems that after a rather leisurely pace in the previous episode, we get back to a brisker pace as the Doctor tries to get back to his own universe. I like how no one is really stopping the Doctor from doing what he wants to do. They have all pretty much accepted that they are doomed and are happy to at least help the Doctor even if they don’t fully understand him.

The effect that is used when Petra, Liz and the Brigade Leader go outside is quite good and does a great job of convincing us that the world is start to go out of control. It gets even better towards the end of the episode as the Doctor is trying to take off and you can’t accuse them of trying to fob us off with unconvincing still images.

Whereas in the previous two episodes, it was at least half of the episode before we get to go back to the original universe but in this episode its five minutes. I love the scene between the Brigadier and Benton when Benton comes without Stahlman. By the end the way that the Brigadier was raising his voice seemed to be very similar to how the Brigade Leader has been acting in the previous episodes. After the slightly claustrophobic feel that the alternate universe was starting to do to me, it was good that we had a decent amount of time in the original universe.

I didn’t notice until this episode but Nicholas Courtney is truly fantastic as the Brigade Leader. He’s using his power (or what he thinks is power) to cover up the fact that he is freaking out just as much as everyone else. This comes to a head when Sutton stands up to him and when the Brigade Leader’s gun doesn’t go off there is a nice fight scene. Caroline John continues to show what she can do when she’s allowed to. The other Liz has mellowed a bit since we first saw her but she’s still quite a strong character and John should be praised for the way that she manages to distinguish the two versions of the same character without going over the top

The highlight of this episode came towards the end when the Brigade Leader is about to force the Doctor to take all of them with him back to his world. This when molten lava is heading towards the hut and it’s a great way to end the episode. I found this episode to be more entertaining than the previous one. It feels like they were actually building towards something which bearing in mind that it’s the last episode next is the least that we should be getting. Tomorrow’s going to be a weird episode for a few reasons which is something that I will go into tomorrow.

Inferno - Episode 5

The fifth episode continues with the world going to hell in a handcart. It’s still fun to see evil Liz and evil Brigade Leader and you can tell that they are really enjoy their current roles. I like how it’s only the Brigadier that remains to stand firm about what he thinks. Liz is a bit more willing to listen to whilst Petra and Greg are also on the side of the Doctor when they aren’t having their tender moments. After a while the plot moves a bit when the Doctor is trying to convince the others to help him get back to his universe. This would be a rather

The werewolf type faces are quite effective and the sight of several of them helps create the idea that they are an effective villain and even though they don’t appear until the latter stages of the episode, they do work well and add another problem to the list that the Doctor and others currently have. The sequence where Benton gets turned into one of those creatures. All but the final shot works really well and its only the final shot before it loses some of its credibility with John Levene pulling a weird face.

Performances wise, its hard to fault anyone. I think that Caroline John and Nicholas Courtney are enjoying themselves and Jon Pertwee continues to work really hard considering he’s involved in pretty much every important or mildly important scene. Even John Levene’s performance cant be faulted even though the transformation face didn’t work as well as it could have done.

The only time we get to see the normal world is when we get back to find that Sir Keith Gold has won in having the drilling stopped (all but temporarily). It ends with the car going off the road and this is suppose to imply that this is what happened to Sir Keith in the alternate universe. That’s pretty much it and it’s weird to think that this is the second episode running where we get very little from the original universe.

I don’t know why but I just didn’t find this episode as good as the previous two. Not sure whether it has something to do with the fact that nothing really happens in this 22 minute episode and so as a result it feels a bit more like padding. With just two more episodes left to enjoy of this season I think its fair to say that I am still enjoying this story and feel that things are going to get even more tense as things really start to go to hell.

Inferno - Episode 4

The fourth episode of this story starts off in the other world. After spending two episodes being stuck in the normal universe, it was good that we get a nice amount of time in the other world. The alternate Liz seems to be the first one to think that the Doctor isn’t a saboteur. The beauty of being in this universe is that we know what could happen in the original world before they do. By the end of the episode, the drill-head has reached penetration

It’s nearly 15 minutes before we return to the normal world. Even though it only goes on for three minutes its long enough for us to know what’s happening and that is Sir Keith Gold is about to go to London to meet the minister in charge to have the facility shut down.  That’s all we get from the nice Brigadier and Liz, we spend so much time away from them that when they do appear it feels strange and also it makes them look slightly less interesting. I cant believe I’ve written that but its true. When I watch evil Liz and evil Brigade Leader, I find myself being slightly less interested when we see a blonde Liz and an non-eye patch Brigadier.

Jon Pertwee is really good in this episode as he in pretty much every shot of the episode. The story would have fallen apart without him really but one of the reasons why this story works is because of how hard Jon Pertwee is working. It’s hard to believe that we are almost at the end of the first season of Jon Pertwee as the Doctor and he has adapted to the role quicker than Patrick Troughton did. Caroline John is brilliant in this episode, she’s better when she’s evil Liz and as a result she gets loads to do and is the best she’s been so far this season.

Something else that works well in this alternative universe is the involvement of Greg and Perta. Whilst Stahlman looks sleeker than normal Stahlman, its Petra and Greg that work better because they seem to be the voice of reason. Sutton is more annoyed about being used as a civil servant and when warned that accidents could happen she seems to let slip that she fancies him and hides it by saying it would be a waste. I feel like I am warming to the pair of them. I think that Sheila Dunn is not given enough praise during this story and she does well with what is a rather average character, I even found Greg to be quite good and Derek Newark does an equally good job in putting some life into the story.

As this story moves along, I find myself thinking that seven episodes is quite a good length for this story. They resisted the temptation of flitting between the two universes and instead give us a nice portion of time in the other universe. I think that this is another cracking episode that is paced well, well directed and there are some fine performances from everyone.

Inferno - Episode 3

This is the episode where things really get interesting. This is the episode where the Doctor goes to the parallel universe and encounters a fascist Brigadier and Liz Shaw. There is a brief moment where the nice Brigadier and Liz try to convince Stahlman to turn the power back on. This bit lasts for a few moments before we get to go into the parallel universe. The way that this is achieved looks like a glitter ball with a unusual sound effect.  Apart from this brief moment this episode is purely about what goes on elsewhere.

I like how there’s a nice few moments when the Doctor wakes up before things start to go wrong when he is shot at. There is a wonderful action sequence with the Doctor and several soldiers which reminds me of how different the Pertwee era is to what we’ve had before. It does feel during this episode that the story has finally found its legs and started running. I don’t mind admitting that I made a mistake in yesterday’s review when I said that it had the recording breaking stunt fall. It was actually this episode.

Liz Shaw’s entrance in this parallel version is great. She’s got a wonderful black wig and uniform which means that she’s more impressive than the nice Liz that we’ve had since the first episode of the season. Nicholas Courtney’s first appearance is also memorable. The shot of him spinning around and all that we see is the eye patch. His job title changes in this episode where he is now Brigade Leader. Even Benton is quite fun in this episode though he does share one trait with the original Benton and that is he’s a bit gullible and falls for a simple trick by the Doctor.

We learn that the drilling is it a far more advance stage than in the first universe. This will be repeated several times during the course of the story and its handy to know but at this stage of the story its not really that important. Nicholas Courtney gets to deliver one of the best lines in Doctor Who when after the Doctor tells the Brigade Leader that he doesn’t exist in this universe, the Brigade Leader replies with “Then you wont feel the bullets when we shoot you.”.

This is by far the best episode of the season. From the very beginning of the episode I found myself enjoying everything about it. I can now start to see why I enjoy this story so much. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves playing different versions of their characters. I think that this story is Nicholas Courtney’s as his Brigade Leader is so far removed from the Brigadier that its hard to imagine that its suppose to be the same character. The story really has begun and I am looking forward to the next four episodes.

Inferno - Episode 2

The second episode of the story continues the pace of the first one and there is a bit of action from the very beginning. The stuff with Slocum was quite good and the idea that no one should touch him otherwise they would be killed. This episode features what was at the time the biggest stunt fall. One of the things that I liked about this episode is the stuff that happened outside because it felt like it gave some depth to the setting. Whereas in ‘The Silurians’ we just got some corridors and a few rooms, we never got location filming to the extent that we get in this story.

During the course of this episode Stahlman gets more and more agitated and becomes infected during this episode. In the case of Slocum, he gets infected by actually touching the slime whereas Stahlman gets infected by touching the container that is heat resistant. This is either a plot error or this means that the slime is more potent than initially suggested. After Slocum had bitten the dust it was time to get more people infected and this happened and it led to some good moments but the people that were infected weren’t really created with connecting with the audience. It felt like to me just a way of passing the time.

I love the line that Jon Pertwee says about wondering whether the slime would be screaming. It’s a rather philosophical idea. Despite the story not really moving on much during the course of these two episodes, I think that Jon Pertwee does brilliantly with what he’s given and that’s having a verbal battle with Stahlman. Unlike the previous episode, it doesn’t take fifteen minutes for Liz to make an appearance. She is quite good in this episode. Which makes a change from what we have seen of her during the course of the season.

Petra and Greg Sutton were two characters that were introduced in the previous episode but I neglected to mention them. Petra is a more interesting character out of the two because of her position. Greg doesn’t really have much point being there really and even as the story progresses, his purpose still confuses me but more of that later. For me the best character in the entire episode is Stahlman. Olaf Pooley was a brilliant piece of casting and is just as good as John Abineri was in the previous story. In fact I would go so far as to say that he is slightly better. At least the character had some development in this episode.

It’s a better episode than the first but it does feel like there is a fair amount of padding before the main part of the story gets going. I think that its still a good story and I know that the best is still to come but there are things that are worth enjoying at the moment.

Inferno - Episode 1

Inferno is my favourite story of the Seventh series. It’s hard to believe that this is the fourth story of the season and yet it’s the last. This is the shortest season of Doctor Who so far and its another story where it starts off with a different way of introducing the title. The title card is imposed over the image of a volcanic eruption. This story takes place in a drilling facility. Not quite sure what UNIT is there really but I suppose that as UNIT are part of the season, they need to be part of the story even if their involvement isn’t really necessary. I mean a murder isn’t something that would warrant UNIT’s involvement. A police unit yes but not UNIT.

This is where we are introduced to Sir Keith Gold played by Christopher Benjamin. It’s hard to look at him and not think of Henry Gordon Jago. It’s clear very quickly that Sir Keith is designed to be one of the good guys and one that the viewers that can be trusted and one that will be an aid to the Doctor and Liz not a hindrance. Another supporting character that we meet is Professor Stahlman. Professor Stahlman is someone who is unlikeable from the very moment that we meet him. He’s the leader of the project and feels like there is a conspiracy to stop him from project from reaching its goal. This is going to be a good source of tension in the story. Slocum is the first victim and it happens in record time. We’re just over the four minute mark before he gets infected. It’s quite a quick transformation as by the end of the episode, he’s turned into what looks like a werewolf. There are moments where he comes across as quite aggressive and would be more than a match for the Doctor.

In my regular Liz rant, its fifteen minutes before Caroline John gets to appear on screen. It’s perhaps no surprise that Caroline John decided to leave the show at the end of the story because she came to the conclusion that she wasn’t going to be used very well and its clear that behind the scenes they must have wanted someone who was more of a screamer than Liz. When Liz does appear she is quite good and it just makes me more annoyed when

The Doctor is trying to get off earth even when he just has the console and during this episode he goes for a test run and during this it doesn’t go very well. It’s the first time really since the opening story that the Doctor has tried to be so open about leaving earth. It’s almost like there was a feeling that this might be the final season and it could have been the case that at the end of the story the Doctor would go off into the cosmos but obviously that didn’t happen. What does happen is that there is an awful lot of talk about drilling and a tiny bit about a nice guy that commits a murder. That’s it really as far as a narrative goes. I thought that this was a very good opening episode. It introduces all the various elements rather well and I think that the seven episode running time is just the right length. As we embark on the final story of the season, I find myself feeling a little bit sad knowing that we will soon be out of my favourite era of the show.

The Invasion - Episode 8

After seven episodes we get to see the action and the thing that UNIT were introduced for. The story has to achieve the tricky thing of making sure this story ends properly and it ends at just the right time.  

At the end of the previous episode, Vaughn finally twigged that he wasn’t going to get things his own way. Vaughn decides that he's going to destroy the Cybermen which is probably the first sensible thing that he has done in the entire story. He starts off with the Cyber Controller and the explosion was a nice pre-filmed effect. That's about as good as it gets for Vaughn because things go downhill pretty quickly. 

 

The shot of the Cyberman appearing on the video screen was a great moment. I remember the first time I saw that and it was a moment that made me jump. There arent many instances in Doctor Who that did this to me. Packer's death was as surprising as it was quick. I've grown to like the character and even though he was a badie it doesn’t meen that he wasn’t likeable. Vaughn's death was disappointing as I think that he deserved much better than what he got. It seemed like he was shot and then that was it. He was the best thing in the entire story and he was treated a bit rubbishly. The Doctor and Vaughn working together is a nice thing to see and it forms part of a nice group of scenes. They went from being at odds to working together for the same cause and the scenes at the IE building were the highlight of the episode. The 'battle' scenes with the UNIT soldiers shooting the Cybermen was perhaps a sign of things to come as it hasn’t been seen on Doctor Who before this.  

 

The plot point about destroying the Cyber ship that’s in space seemed to be dragging the story on for a few minutes. Thankfully its only a few minutes but it did feel like it could have been dealt with earlier in the story and not right at the end.  

 

The performances from Patrick Troughton, Wendy Padbury and un-official companion Nicholas Courtney were all really good and its clear why Courtney would become part of the show in a way that no other non-companion would be able to do. Troughton's performances have been consistantly good throughout this story and seems to step up a gear when he's against Kevin Stoney. Speaking of Stoney, I loved his performance as Mavic Chen and he managed to beat that with Tobias Vaughn. One of the best villains in Doctor Who. 

 

The final scene sees Jamie return and leads to a nice bit of comedy at the end of a comedy-free episode. I must say that I had forgotten the TARDIS was invisible and so was amazed again with the effect. Overall I thought that the episode was what I thought that a final episode should be. It had plenty of action and all the plot points were tied up nicely. I think that this was a much better Cyberman story than 'The Wheel in Space'. Not sure eight episodes was the right length but it was an enjoyable story but the good times are about to end because next up 'THE KROTONS'. 

The Invasion - Episode 7

It's the penultimate episode of this story that has quickly got good and made up for the rather feeble 'The Wheel in Space'. At the end of the last episode the Cybermen were seen walking through the streets of London but whats rather curious is how that’s about all that we get. At least in this episode Patrick Troughton gets out of the lab set. Frazer Hines has a brief involvement in the episode as he is shot. He is due to have a holiday in the next episode (more of that in episode 8). From the next scene with the Doctor, Jamie is not seen so that means that Zoe gets more to do. She gets to use her intelligence by working how to destroy all the ships. It's the first time since her debut story that she gets to show us how brainy she is and it’s a very good moment though its sadly becoming a rare thing. 

 

I only noticed quite late in the episode that Isobel seems to have a bit of a disappearing act along with Jamie. The fact that it took me so long to notice her lack of presence shows just how ineffective the character has been. I might be being harsh on Sally Faulkner but its not her fault but more the writing as she's not been given much to do. 

 

We get another first in this episode as we get to see the Doctor driving a car. This would be the norm during the Pertwee era but this was something special at the time. Sadly despite the fact that this story is called The Invasion there isn't any sign of an invasion apart from the very beginning. The Cybermen don’t really have much of an impact in the episode and it feels like we've gone back a step and gone back to 'The Wheel in Space'. It's rather frustrating.  

 

It feels like the dynamic between Vaughn and Packer was starting to change. Vaughn does seem to be losing control as without Watkins, they cant make more machines to control the Cybermen. Packer seems to be more unsure about the plan. I think that its good how their relationship has developed and they have both been very good from their first appearances.  

 

I do like the Doctor/Vaughn scenes towards the end of the episode. It's always great when two fine actors are working in the same scene and it leads to the moment that Vaughn realizes that he's out of his depth and is reluctant to stop his plans after five years in the making. It makes for a great ending when the Doctor asks Vaughn if he wants to be ruler of a dead world and then there is a close up of Vaughns face. I did feel like there was a slight feel of padding in this episode but not as noticeable as the first four episodes. At least there was development as far as the Cyberman's plan was concerned and the final episode should have the fitting end that this story deserves. 

The Invasion - Episode 6

The sixth episode is probably where the story would run into padding but that isn’t the case because we had four episode of padding really before we got to this point. The opening three or four minutes sees Jamie, Zoe and Isobel trying to dodgy the Cybermen in the sewer. It’s quite a good opening scene and it pretty much sums up the pace of the episode. The Doctor starts the episode working in a lab and spends the entire episode in the lab set. I don’t know whether it was a deliberate thing but its odd that he is relatively inactive during this episode which is a weird thing but it is what it is.

The Packer/Vaughn relationship is more friendly in this episode. They seem to be more on the same page in this episode which is nice to see. Even though we know that his body is robotic it takes Watkins shooting Vaughn him to show us this fact. I am still a big fan of Kevin Stoney because there was a sneaky menace to his performance and it was wonderful to watch. Edward Burnham as Watkins is on good form as he does what most people would probably want to do and that’s kill the bad guy.

It’s strange that we don’t get to see the rescue of Watkins by the UNIT soldiers. It’s also strange how Gregory is quickly killed off due to Watkins’ rescue. From the moment that Captain Munro starts talking on the radio about launching the rescue to Gregory being killed off less than two minutes would have passed and whilst it isn’t the most important part of the story but I think that it could have been done slightly better.

I didn’t notice it before but its 15 minutes before Wendy Padbury returns and in the first scene I notice her in and she’s moaning about Jamie going to sleep with Cybermen around. In her next scene she’s better because she’s included in the Doctor’s explanation. I may have been wrong about Isobel. I think that she wasn’t annoying in this episode and was rightly miffed when he work of taking pics of the Cybermen were dismissed by the Brigadier.

We get another of the Doctor’s explanations and diagrams to show us what’s been going on. I always enjoy these moments as sometimes I like being treated like I’m stupid and it’s a nice refresher moment which is done quickly and effectively.

I do like the shots of London early in the morning just before the Cybermen make their grand appearance. I think that its such a rare thing to see London with nobody on it so its nice to see. The cliffhanger is really good as we get to see Cybermen walking on the streets for the first time. When the Daleks invaded our little planet it wasn’t particularly successful though to be fair it was in the days before location filming became what it was in 1968. It’s a great ending and I feel like the story has really found its feet and the last two episode cant come soon enough.