Seeds of Doom

-What do you do for an encore?
-I win!

If you conducted a poll of the favorite classic Doctor, favorite companion, favorite producer era, favorite writer, and favorite director, you would probably get: the Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane Smith, Philip Hinchcliff, Robert Holmes, and Douglas Camfield. The first four elements combined for several good stories, but the fifth element only meshed with the other four in one story: Seeds of Doom. An argument could be made that Seeds of Doom represents the apex of classic era Doctor Who. Most fans will probably have a different story that is their personal favorite, but Seeds of Doom will end up being in just about everyone's top five.

Following the traditional Robert Holmes model for six-part stories, Seeds of Doom is split into a two episode mini-adventure set in Antarctica and then followed by the four episode main adventure on Harrison Chase's estate in England. You might think that this would cause one side to be a let down in comparison to the other, but that is not the case.

The adventure opens with the discovery of two Krynoid pods by an Antarctic expedition. One of the pods sprouts and infects one of the crew. This is more or less taken from the 1951 movie, The Thing from Another World. Following information sent by the base, the Doctor is sent to investigate the pods along with Sarah Jane. Unknown to the Doctor, the photos are shown to millionaire eccentric Harrison Chase who sends his agent Scorby to capture the pod. Episode one doesn't waste time on the set up other than finding the pod and getting all characters to the Antarctic base. Once there, you have the dual adventure of defeating the grown Krynoid and trying to not get killed by Scorby.

The Doctor is on from the start of this episode. There is wit and humor but he also has an intense anger sprouting from fear underlying his performance. Because this portion of the story is contained to two episodes, there is no padding and the action flows quickly. The sent even looks good as the production team actually painted the quarry where they were filming white to look like snow.

Scorby escapes with the remaining pod while the Doctor destroys the Krynoid. The pod is delivered to Chase (who believes that plants should dominate Earth and animal kind wiped out) while the Doctor and Sarah track him down. The pod eventually infects Chase's chief scientist, Keeler, and the Doctor then moves to stop the second Krynoid. Chase continues to thwart the Doctor, resulting in a confrontation where Chase is pulled in to his composting machine. The Doctor and Sarah escape while the RAF fly in and destroy the Krynoid from the air.

There is obviously a lot more detail but it's more fun to enjoy the ride. The four episodes contain some padding but the thrill of the chase and the quality of the acting are such that you barely notice. Chase himself is one of the best villains in Doctor Who and could easily pass for a James Bond villain. Scorby is also excellent as Chase's right hand thug, although his exit is a little weak after a strong first four episodes. Even the secondary characters are enjoyable with Amelia Ducat being the most entertaining.

If you had to look for nits to pick, I'd note the Krynoid costumes (as they are the Axion costumes spray painted green) and the effects of the super-sized Krynoid towards the end of the story. No matter how hard they tried, you can't escape the limitation of 1970's TV technology and the CSO does jump out at you. But the large shots are well done and the episode does not linger on them so it is easy to put that out of your mind quickly as the drama sweeps you along.

I would very happily watch Seeds of Doom again and would recommend it to anyone who wanted to sample a quality classic story.

Overall personal score 5 out of 5