When Barry Letts took over Doctor Who, he instituted a new era that had been set up by his predecessors as a means of making the show both more relatable and less expensive to produce. Thus the Third Doctor era, even when finally granted a repaired TARDIS, felt so much different than any other era of the show. It wasn't the Doctor and a companion(s) thumping around the universe but a Doctor with a home base and support staff on Earth. That brought about both pros and cons and I think for me, that is a good summary of the Third Doctor era, pros and cons.
When I look back on the Third Doctor era, I can't help but notice that although there are several stories I quite enjoyed, I could never go the full nine yards and say that these stories were deserving of the full 5 rating. There was always something that bugged me about each story. But on the other hand, I can recall very few stories that left me with a strong desire not to watch them again. In fact, several of the stories that are regarded as clunkers of the era (such as The Time Monster) I actually found reasonably enjoyable. So while the show didn't hit the highest of highs, it also avoided the lowest of lows.
What the Third Doctor era usually comes down to is how much James Bond you want in your Doctor? For the three seasons in which Barry Letts was in complete control and Jo Grant served as the companion, the Doctor was usually quite James Bond. My principle complaint about this is that the stories tended to take a similar tone and get meandering. The Doctor would rely a bit too much on defeating the enemy in a physical battle or in whipping up a quick device that would shut things down. What's more, these solutions tended to go very last minute which made the prior episodes (and often it was 5) feel like there was just a lot of wheel spinning.
The best third Doctor stories usually took a more intellectual tone and operated in the grey area where neither side was wholly good or evil, or were a snappy adventure which kept things bouncing from point to point and resolved themselves in a proper manner. Lesser stories wandered around too much with repeated action or slap-dash fixes that made the rest of the story pointless.
Similarly, the nature of the Third Doctor played a large role in the appreciation of his stories. Throughout his era, with perhaps the exception of his very first in which he is channeling the Second Doctor, the Third Doctor is a pompous ass. That can be played well for laughs from time to time or if he is challenged by those he sees as lessers but who are able to match him from time to time. One of the reasons Season 7 is so highly regarded is due to the intellectual heft that can be brought by Liz Shaw and to a lesser extent Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Even Jo brings a bit of practical grounding here and there which works with the Third Doctor, and even brings out his compassionate side from time to time. Stories where he is allowed to be pompous and have no checks usually fall a bit short.
The Third Doctor era should be recognized as one of the best in terms of the companion. The Brigadier is a constant and often good counterbalance to the Doctor. Lesser stories in this era slip into the trap of making the Brig seem like a shoot first buffoon, which is not within his character at all. He is at his best when he brings practicality against the Doctor's high mindedness and naiveté. Of the three regular companions, Liz Shaw is my favorite, being able to go toe to toe with the Doctor intellectually and meshing well with him in a Holmes-Watson like manner. Jo is also endearing, especially once they reduced the volume of "she's a klutz" jokes. She operates much like a ward for the Doctor, being instructed by him but also opening his mind to new possibilities here and there. Sarah Jane is Sarah Jane but she is sharper when first introduced. She's too much of the stereotypical view of Women's Lib so that while she is entertaining and enjoyable, she can also be grating while spouting tropes. So while I love Sarah Jane, I think she's probably my least favorite of the Third Doctor companions.
I think one of the grand ironys is that the Third Doctor era may end up as one of the highest average scores of any Doctor era and yet I think it would likely be one of the least likely for me to grab to randomly watch. I can appreciate consistency but when you get an itch to watch a story, its usually because there is a certain hook and a lot of the Third Doctor stories lack that hook. It's a good era, well made and well acted for the most part. But unless there is a certain draw from that particular characterization of the Doctor, I could see it considered as something of a lesser era. Unlike some of the later eras when there is open debate as to whether a certain era is good or note, if someone says they don't care for the Third Doctor era, it's usually let lie. People like it or they don't and there is a respect for those that don't. Of course, even those that don't usually point out that they think it a well made and acted segment of the show. So even when not caring for an era, it is respected and I think that's more where I fall. I respect it, think a number of stories are pretty good, but don't think of it ahead of other eras, even if they have stories that are more likely to be junk just because I feel the ride is more memorable.
Highest Rated Story: The Green Death - 4.5
Lowest Rated Story: The Dæmons - 1.5
Average overall rating: 3.375
Spearhead From Space
Doctor Who and the Silurians
The Ambassadors of Death
Inferno
Terror of the Autons
The Mind of Evil
The Claws of Axos
Colony in Space
The Dæmons
Day of the Daleks
The Curse of Peladon
The Sea Devils
The Mutants
The Time Monster
The Three Doctors
Carnival of Monsters
Frontier in Space
Planet of the Daleks
The Green Death
The Time Warrior
Invasion of the Dinosaurs
Death to the Daleks
The Monster of Peladon
Planet of the Spiders
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Planet of the Spiders
A tear Sarah Jane?
As it happens, we close the Third Doctor segment with his final story. I remember seeing this one a while back and found it ok, though there were some aspects of it that were sub-par. Interestingly, I think the things that I found I didn't care for were not necessarily the same things others found unenjoyable. My opinion might change but the things I didn't care for stick out pretty hard and as most of them were performance based, I doubt they are going to improve on a second pass. Still, I always aim to keep an open mind.
Plot Summary
Mike Yates is attending a center for meditation therapy and observes a group of men using meditation to expand their power. He gets permission from the deputy abbot Cho-Je to invite Sarah to visit the center and investigate. After picking her up, he drives her back to the center but they are run off the road by a large tractor that appears in the road suddenly. When they look again, it is gone.
At the same time the Doctor and the Brigadier are investigating the telepathic abilities of Professor Clegg, a performer in a local vaudeville show. Clegg tries to deny his abilities, claiming they are just tricks, but the Doctor points out errors he made, revealing that his abilities are real. The Doctor attaches Clegg to several instruments and studies his thoughts and brain patterns as he gives him several tests, all of which he passes. While conducting the experiments, the Doctor receives a package from Jo. She has returned the blue crystal from Metebelis III as it continues to scare the local tribesmen and interfere's with their work. The Doctor reads over the letter while Clegg examines the crystal curiously.
Sarah and Yates speak with Cho-Je, who notes that there are demons within the self that can be tapped in to but that such things do not happen there. He leaves to oversee the meditation class and as Sarah and Yates walk around, they run into a man called Lupton. Lupton is the leader of the group and Yates pulls Sarah away making like he is going to take her back to the train. Lupton smugly tells another man that Yates won't be a problem as they seem to have scared him sufficiently. Yates however merely drives outside the grounds allowing Sarah and himself to walk back and investigate quietly.
Sarah and Yates enter back in to the complex, meeting a mentally challenged young man named Tommy who lives at the center. Sarah and Yates sneak into the cellar and are forced to hide when Lupton and his group enter. They begin to chant and an energy surge occurs on the center mat. The energy surge also manifests through the blue crystal in the Doctor's lab. The whole room shakes and Clegg is locked in a trance with the crystal. The Doctor pulls it out of his hands and the shock of withdrawal kills him. The energy beam in the cellar dies away leaving a giant spider sitting in the room.
The other members of the circle flee but Lupton stays. The spider orders Lupton to turn around and it hops on his back and disappears. The spider melds it's mind with Lupton and uses him to find the blue crystal the Doctor had taken from Metebelis III. Yates and Sarah slip out of the basement and Yates sends Sarah off to warn the Doctor and the Brigadier. Yates tries to tell the abbot, K'anpo, but he is prevented from disturbing him first by Tommy and then Lupton.
The Doctor examines the machine that Clegg was hooked up to when he died and sees images of spiders in the viewer. When Sarah arrives, she tells of the arrival of the spider which immediately piques the Doctor's curiosity. As she goes into further detail, Lupton arrives at UNIT headquarters under guidance of the spider. He stuns one guard as well as Sargent Benton and then uses mental power to teleport the crystal to him. The Doctor and Sarah notice the crystal's disappearance and chase after Lupton.
Lupton steals the Whomobile and drives up. The Brigadier, Benton and Sarah follow in Bessie while the Doctor spots Lupton in a micro-lite helicopter. Unable to lose his pursuers, Lupton ditches the car and hides in the grass. When his pursuers stop, he steals the helicopter and takes off. The Doctor and Sarah follow in the Whomobile which is capable of flight. Lupton is unable to go far due to the lack of fuel and is forced to land near the shore.
Lupton stuns a boat owner and steals a motor boat. The Doctor gives chase, taking a hovercraft that had been parked near the boat. The boat is faster but the Doctor cuts across land to cut Lupton off. Seeing themselves trapped, the spider orders Lupton to focus his mental energy and she transports them back to the meditation center. Lupton heads back to his room to recover. Along the way he is spotted pocketing the crystal by Tommy, who is instantly drawn to it. Once in the room, the spider disengages itself and sends a message back to the queen of their success.
Reuniting with Sarah, the Doctor heads to the meditation center to find Lupton. They are observed by the spider and one of Lupton's associates, Barnes. Barnes alerts Lupton, but Lupton is unafraid. While the two of them are talking, Tommy pokes through the window and steals the crystal which was on the table near the window. The spider returns and threatens Lupton if he does not obey her. Lupton turns his now enhanced mental powers on her and the two form an alliance to overthrow the queen spider and then conquer Earth. Lupton then notices that the crystal is gone. With no time to find it as they are expected on Metebelis III, Lupton opts to bluff. He heads down to the cellar to transport himself.
Cho-Je sends a man to look for Lupton but while he is gone, Tommy calls to Sarah and tells her he wants to give her a gift. He takes her to his closet where he keeps shiny things. While he pokes through, Sarah sees Lupton heading to the cellar. She tells Tommy to get the Doctor and Yates and runs off before Tommy can give her the crystal. Tommy then goes to the Doctor and Yates and tells them of Sarah and Lupton in the cellar.
In the cellar, Lupton chants and is teleported to Metebelis III. Sarah runs to tell the Doctor but accidentally steps on his meditation mat. She freezes and is also teleported to the planet just as the Doctor enters. She sees Lupton in the distance but is grabbed by a man named Tuar who drags her back to his village.
In the village, Tuar presents her and accuses her of being a spy. The town moves to kill her but is stopped by Arak, Tuar's brother, who is being hunted by the spiders. Before she can fully explain herself, the sound of the entourage of the spider queen is heard. Arak, Tuar and Sarah are all taken into the house to hide. The spider queen demands that Arak be surrendered for killing one of her human guards and if not, she will randomly kill a member from every family in the village.
Unwilling to let this happen, Arak's father, Sabor, abases himself and claims that he helped Arak escape into the mountains. The queen accepts this story and orders that Sabor will stand in Arak's place for punishment. Sabor's wife, Neska, comes out to plead for mercy and as she does, the queen spies Sarah in the house. Knowing she was seen and not wanting to expose Arak, Sarah comes out and surrenders.
Having seen Sarah disappear, the Doctor heads back to UNIT HQ and takes the TARDIS to Metebelis III. He arrives just as Sarah surrenders. The guards attack him but he overpowers them. One of the guards shoots energy at him as Lupton did earlier and the Doctor is knocked out outside the TARDIS. Sarah disguises herself and slips back in the house leaving the queen frustrated as she returns to the palace.
Sarah convinces Tuar to bring the Doctor in the house though he is sure the Doctor is dead or dying. The Doctor does come around but is very weak. He tells Sarah to get a machine in a bag from the TARDIS. She slips out after curfew and gets it but is captured by the guards, leaving it outside the TARDIS. After they leave, Arak slips out and grabs it. He activates it with help from the Doctor and the Doctor instantly begins to recover.
Back at the meditation center, Lupton's cronies meet in a room to figure out what to do next. They catch Tommy at the door trying to read the sign. They shoo him off but Yates comes over to listen. Yates is also discovered, knocked out and tied up. Tommy meanwhile heads back to his closet and tries to read a book his mother got him. As he does, he is distracted by the blue crystal starting to glow. He focuses on it and it sends a surge of power. The surge clarifies his mind, allowing him to learn as a normal adult.
Sarah is brought to the spider's palace and wrapped up. She is placed with Sabor who tells her how a spider came along with the original colonists but was blown into the mountains with the crystals. The crystals gave it power and made them larger. Four hundred years later, they now extract tribute from the colonists and control the planet.
Having learned the same story, the Doctor has a set of rocks brought in. Examining them, he is able to identify a type of stone that will absorb the power of the blue crystal weapons, giving the colonists the ability to fight the spider's guards. Fashioning a hand device of that stone, the Doctor heads to the palace to rescue Sarah and Sabor. He encounters guards but is able to fight them off. He is then cornered by Lupton, who had been dismissed by the queen after trying to claim a guarantee for securing the crystal. More guards appear and arrest both Lupton and the Doctor, once his stone shield is knocked from his hand. Lupton is taken away but the Doctor is taken to the same cell as Sarah and Sabor.
The queen of the spiders brings Lupton into the council where it is revealed that they know the crystal is still on Earth. Lupton tries to bargain to retrieve it but the spiders weaken him with their mental powers. However, there is dissent within the council as to whether to attack Earth directly or to pursue another course. The queen elects to visit the Great One to receive clarification. Instead she goes into another room and has Sarah brought to her. The queen offers her a deal that in exchange for the crystal, she will arrange that the invasion of Earth will be cancelled. She even agrees to Sarah's demand to leave the villages in peace.
After Sarah is taken away, the Doctor manages to extricate himself from his wrappings. He goes to look for Sarah and is lured away by the sound of her voice. He finds himself in a cave with the Great One, a spider of enormous size and mental power. The spider orders him to return to Earth and bring the crystal. When he tries to refuse, she manipulates his body to demonstrate her power of him, though he tries to fight back.
The Doctor leaves the chamber and meets Sarah leaving the queen's chamber. At the same time, Arak and some other men attack the spider's palace to rescue Sabor. Arak and his men have bound the special rocks to their foreheads to create shields from the crystal weapons of the guards. Arak and his men save Sabor but Sarah uses a teleportation technique taught to her by the queen of the spiders to take her and the Doctor back to the TARDIS. The Doctor tells Neska of Arak's success as he and Sarah enter the TARDIS and disappear.
Meanwhile, Barnes returns to his room and opts to untie Yates when Yates offers to help them reopen the passage to Metebelis III so that Sarah can be recovered. Tommy overhears this while looking for Yates to help him with his studies and goes to Cho-Je to warn him.
The group begin their chanting and open a passage for the spiders, but they appear elsewhere in the cellar rather than on the mat. When Cho-Je arrives to stop them, the spiders stun him. They do the same to Yates when he rises up. The four spiders then get on the backs of Barnes and the others and take hold of them.
The TARDIS arrives at this moment and the group attempt to stun the Doctor in the same way as Cho-Je and Yates but the Doctor is able to deflect the beams using his stone shield. Tommy calls to them and they flee the basement, buying some time by locking the group in. Tommy takes them to see the abbot K'anpo, whom the Doctor has a strange feeling he has met before. The Doctor tells K'anpo of what has been going on while Tommy stands guard outside the door.
K'anpo reveals that he has the crystal, which is attracting the spider controlled men. The reveal also prompts the queen spider, who had taken control of Sarah, to reveal herself. The Doctor urges Sarah to retake control of her mind and uses the crystal as a focusing device. Sarah rejects the queen's control and the feedback kills the queen, prompting her to fall off Sarah's back and disappear. The Doctor then realizes that K'anpo is the same hermit Time Lord he was instructed by long ago (see Episode Six of The Time Monster and that Cho-Je is only a mental projection of his next regeneration. K'anpo also chides the Doctor for giving in to his thirst for knowledge and rejecting his fears, knowing what he must do.
While all this is happening, the four spider controlled men try to get by Tommy standing guard. Tommy holds them off, his innocence acting as a shield to the energy bursts of the spiders. They unite and contact Metebelis III for more power. Lupton, in a fit of pique, tries to take control and the spiders kill him with an energy blast. They are given more power, but the time involved gives Yates and Cho-Je time to come around. Yates throws himself in front of the blast, stunning him again. Tommy rushes to his side, allowing the men to burst through. The Doctor uses the crystal to mentally transport himself back to the cellar and then into the TARDIS. The men fire a bolt to try and stop him but hit K'anpo instead. They then rush to the cellar to find the TARDIS gone.
On Metebelis III, the Doctor runs into Arak and Tuar who offer to lead him in. They instead take him to the spider warren, having been mentally taken over during their raid. The Doctor produces the crystal but states that he will present it to the Great One himself. The spiders allow this, expecting the Doctor to be killed by the Great One.
He goes into the chamber and is bombarded by the radiation of a crystal web the Great One has built. She takes the crystal from him to complete the lattice which will expand her mind. The Doctor warns her that she has built a positive feedback loop and it will kill her but she ignores him. The lattice activates and does indeed begin to burn her mind. The connection expands outwards, killing the other spiders on Metebelis III and the four controlling the humans on Earth. Arak and the rest of the guards come back to their normal selves and flee the mountain along with the Doctor. Weakened, the Doctor enters the TARDIS and heads back to Earth.
In the meditation center, Yates recovers, having been shielded by his selflessness but K'anpo is too weak and instead regenerates into the Cho-Je form, Cho-Je disappearing with the regeneration. Sarah heads back to UNIT headquarters three weeks later with no sign of the Doctor. However after meeting with the Brigadier, the TARDIS appears and the Doctor stumbles out, the radiation having dealt him a mortal blow. The regenerated K'anpo appears and helps initiate the regeneration as the Third Doctor morphs into the Fourth.
Analysis
Although Barry Letts stayed on to oversee the production of Robot, the final Third Doctor story was also his true ending. As would be mimicked by RTD nearly 35 years later, Letts put in all of the elements that were noted from his era into this story: UNIT, alien invasion of Earth, humans delusional for power, CSO, adventure chases, fight sequences involving the Doctor, etc. In fact, had Roger Delgado not died, it is very likely that he would have been in the place of Lupton to complete the swan song. So in many ways, if you have any hang-ups about the Barry Letts era, this story is not necessarily going to sit well with you. For me, I think it summed up my feelings on the era as a whole with an overly middling outlook.
In many aspects, this isn't a bad set up for a story with an interesting way of tying in a lot of loose elements from prior stories. Nearly everything is brought in in a way that makes sense and does have a natural flow. Where the story falls down is in it's indulgences, certain performances and design. Had this story been tightened up a bit so as to cut down in a few places as well as a little more time in the final design, I think this story could have been much better.
In terms of the Doctor, I think he did very well. He was a bit looser and more natural, but he usually is in the 11th season with Sarah Jane. Perhaps it was just the responsibility with Jo that made him go a bit tight-assed in earlier stories. But the Doctor is enjoyable here. He's presented with a mystery, he is forced to solve it and at no point do things get fouled up because of a mistake on the Doctor's part. The attack on the spider's lair was a bit short-sighted as he should have avoided capture, but it's only a small niggle.
About the only other part that I didn't care for with the Doctor was in Episode Six and that was all about the writing. K'anpo chastises the Doctor for being greedy with knowledge. That makes no sense. It is not greed that has been his shortfall but pride. He has gotten into a number of scrapes and even gotten people killed because he is too prideful to admit that he is wrong or needs help. That is his true failing and humility should be the lesson he must learn. It is overcoming pride and acceptance of the needs of the situation, which means accepting that he might die, that propels things forward. Greed of knowledge has nothing to do with any of that. But again, that is writing, not performance.
Sarah did well and was quite enjoyable. I liked the way the hook of her being a journalist was actually used to kick this story into motion and also gave her agency towards acting the role of Nancy Drew. I also liked the subtle change in acting that was used after the queen spider took possession of her. It shows how comfortable you can get with a performance when small changes just set off little bells in your head. When Sarah emerged after being taken over by the queen, she was just too happy-go-lucky and eager. It reminded me of someone who had just taken some uppers and I knew that something was off. When it was revealed that the queen had control of her, it put everything into focus and made the change in performance pay off.
Most of the other protagonist performances were fairly decent, though I wouldn't say that any were of a particularly high caliber with perhaps the exception of Tommy. He is an endearing character as someone with a learning difficulty and he becomes only more interesting when the crystal clears his mind and makes him more articulate. The huge exception to the acting rule is Neska. That performance is downright atrocious. I have arguably seen better performances in plays my kids have been in and as neither one is in high school yet, that tells you about the caliber of acting typically seen. Fortunately she only has two scenes but in both she just sticks out, especially as everyone else around her is at least trying, even if they are lesser quality actors themselves.
I'm a bit mixed on the villains. Of the humans, only Lupton is really worth noting. The others are of such small scale and small acting quality that they are barely worth noting. Lupton himself starts well, but diminishes after the first two episodes. Once the action shifts to Metebelis III and the spiders take over as the true villains, Lupton is almost lost as a figure. He only comes about a few more times, mostly to protest his treatment by the spiders and try to bluff his way to a better role. In many ways, he really is a stand in for the Master. I have a very hard time believing that Barry Letts and Robert Sloman did not have a visual of someone like Roger Delgado in that role, even though Delgado had been dead for nearly a year at the point of initial broadcast.
As for the spiders, I thought the spider puppets themselves weren't bad and I liked their mental powers overcoming the obvious physical superiority that humans would have. I did not like the fact that although three different women supplied voices for the spiders, they were modulated and sounded very similar to me. It made listening to conversations between the spiders rather difficult to follow. I would rather have had a bit more distinction in the voices as having them unmodulated would have helped. I also wish the settings for the spiders had been changed. The exterior showed mounds of rock with webbing. But inside it was clean hallways and manufactured tables. I also thought it was too well lit. Spiders should operate in the dark and they should have been arranged in council in a giant web in a dank cave. That would have upped the creepiness factor as well. It just seems like a missed opportunity where the production made the spiders look more fake by putting them in such an out of place setting.
There are a lot of ups and downs in this story with some good production values and acting and some poor production values and acting. A lot of people don't like the self-indulgent car chase that takes up half of Episode Two. I didn't mind it because I grew up watching car chase shows and it's arguably more fun to fill time chasing after the bad guy in a car that just in running down an empty corridor. Granted the swapping of the Whomobile and the microlite was a bit silly as well as the comedy moment of the Doctor nearly running over the tramp in a hovercraft, but it was still fairly entertaining. Really, as long as the story was on Earth, it move fairly well and was engaging. It wasn't until the story shifted to Metebelis III that the time-filling elements began to creep in and the story began to bog down.
But even with the limitations here and there, I think this story would pass as a slightly above average story if it weren't for the overall resolution. This story spend five and a half episodes where the Doctor and others worked to keep the crystal away from the Great One. In the end, the Doctor brings it to them and the Great One's arrogance destroys herself. So all the fighting, injury and death was for nothing. If Lupton had been transported with the crystal and presented it to the Great One in Episode Three, the story would have ended and the spiders would have been destroyed. The Doctor's involvement was essentially pointless.
It gets even worse when you factor in that standing in the belt of radiation emanating from the crystal web the Great One had created is what kills the Third Doctor. It is not an act of heroism or being mortally wounded to prevent the villain from triumphing. He dies while watching his enemy destroy itself, with no help from him at all. To make it more aggravating, there is a chance to make a case for regenerating built into the story. The Doctor is zapped and appears to be mortally wounded at the beginning of Episode Four. His gadget zaps him back to health about halfway through. If he had made a comment that all the gadget did was buy him some time but that his body was still dying, that would have set things up better for the end (such as was done in The Caves of Androzani). He was dying and so facing that death nobly by setting up the spiders for destruction would have made the scene play better. As is, the story just feels like a waste of time.
Again, if you discount the ending, I think this story can be enjoyable, especially if you like the overall nature of the Third Doctor stories. If I were judging it up until the halfway mark of Episode Six, I think I would have gone easily with a three and could have seen the merit of considering a 3.5. Not great but an average to good story. But the ending leaves such a bad taste in my mouth that I can't quite overcome. It's not a complete killer but when you spend six episodes and feel like nothing was accomplished other than the Doctor getting himself killed, the journey just wasn't worth it. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of the Third Doctor era, but this is not one that I would rush for a rewatch, especially now that I've seen it twice.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
As it happens, we close the Third Doctor segment with his final story. I remember seeing this one a while back and found it ok, though there were some aspects of it that were sub-par. Interestingly, I think the things that I found I didn't care for were not necessarily the same things others found unenjoyable. My opinion might change but the things I didn't care for stick out pretty hard and as most of them were performance based, I doubt they are going to improve on a second pass. Still, I always aim to keep an open mind.
Plot Summary
Mike Yates is attending a center for meditation therapy and observes a group of men using meditation to expand their power. He gets permission from the deputy abbot Cho-Je to invite Sarah to visit the center and investigate. After picking her up, he drives her back to the center but they are run off the road by a large tractor that appears in the road suddenly. When they look again, it is gone.
At the same time the Doctor and the Brigadier are investigating the telepathic abilities of Professor Clegg, a performer in a local vaudeville show. Clegg tries to deny his abilities, claiming they are just tricks, but the Doctor points out errors he made, revealing that his abilities are real. The Doctor attaches Clegg to several instruments and studies his thoughts and brain patterns as he gives him several tests, all of which he passes. While conducting the experiments, the Doctor receives a package from Jo. She has returned the blue crystal from Metebelis III as it continues to scare the local tribesmen and interfere's with their work. The Doctor reads over the letter while Clegg examines the crystal curiously.
Sarah and Yates speak with Cho-Je, who notes that there are demons within the self that can be tapped in to but that such things do not happen there. He leaves to oversee the meditation class and as Sarah and Yates walk around, they run into a man called Lupton. Lupton is the leader of the group and Yates pulls Sarah away making like he is going to take her back to the train. Lupton smugly tells another man that Yates won't be a problem as they seem to have scared him sufficiently. Yates however merely drives outside the grounds allowing Sarah and himself to walk back and investigate quietly.
Sarah and Yates enter back in to the complex, meeting a mentally challenged young man named Tommy who lives at the center. Sarah and Yates sneak into the cellar and are forced to hide when Lupton and his group enter. They begin to chant and an energy surge occurs on the center mat. The energy surge also manifests through the blue crystal in the Doctor's lab. The whole room shakes and Clegg is locked in a trance with the crystal. The Doctor pulls it out of his hands and the shock of withdrawal kills him. The energy beam in the cellar dies away leaving a giant spider sitting in the room.
The other members of the circle flee but Lupton stays. The spider orders Lupton to turn around and it hops on his back and disappears. The spider melds it's mind with Lupton and uses him to find the blue crystal the Doctor had taken from Metebelis III. Yates and Sarah slip out of the basement and Yates sends Sarah off to warn the Doctor and the Brigadier. Yates tries to tell the abbot, K'anpo, but he is prevented from disturbing him first by Tommy and then Lupton.
The Doctor examines the machine that Clegg was hooked up to when he died and sees images of spiders in the viewer. When Sarah arrives, she tells of the arrival of the spider which immediately piques the Doctor's curiosity. As she goes into further detail, Lupton arrives at UNIT headquarters under guidance of the spider. He stuns one guard as well as Sargent Benton and then uses mental power to teleport the crystal to him. The Doctor and Sarah notice the crystal's disappearance and chase after Lupton.
Lupton steals the Whomobile and drives up. The Brigadier, Benton and Sarah follow in Bessie while the Doctor spots Lupton in a micro-lite helicopter. Unable to lose his pursuers, Lupton ditches the car and hides in the grass. When his pursuers stop, he steals the helicopter and takes off. The Doctor and Sarah follow in the Whomobile which is capable of flight. Lupton is unable to go far due to the lack of fuel and is forced to land near the shore.
Lupton stuns a boat owner and steals a motor boat. The Doctor gives chase, taking a hovercraft that had been parked near the boat. The boat is faster but the Doctor cuts across land to cut Lupton off. Seeing themselves trapped, the spider orders Lupton to focus his mental energy and she transports them back to the meditation center. Lupton heads back to his room to recover. Along the way he is spotted pocketing the crystal by Tommy, who is instantly drawn to it. Once in the room, the spider disengages itself and sends a message back to the queen of their success.
Reuniting with Sarah, the Doctor heads to the meditation center to find Lupton. They are observed by the spider and one of Lupton's associates, Barnes. Barnes alerts Lupton, but Lupton is unafraid. While the two of them are talking, Tommy pokes through the window and steals the crystal which was on the table near the window. The spider returns and threatens Lupton if he does not obey her. Lupton turns his now enhanced mental powers on her and the two form an alliance to overthrow the queen spider and then conquer Earth. Lupton then notices that the crystal is gone. With no time to find it as they are expected on Metebelis III, Lupton opts to bluff. He heads down to the cellar to transport himself.
Cho-Je sends a man to look for Lupton but while he is gone, Tommy calls to Sarah and tells her he wants to give her a gift. He takes her to his closet where he keeps shiny things. While he pokes through, Sarah sees Lupton heading to the cellar. She tells Tommy to get the Doctor and Yates and runs off before Tommy can give her the crystal. Tommy then goes to the Doctor and Yates and tells them of Sarah and Lupton in the cellar.
In the cellar, Lupton chants and is teleported to Metebelis III. Sarah runs to tell the Doctor but accidentally steps on his meditation mat. She freezes and is also teleported to the planet just as the Doctor enters. She sees Lupton in the distance but is grabbed by a man named Tuar who drags her back to his village.
In the village, Tuar presents her and accuses her of being a spy. The town moves to kill her but is stopped by Arak, Tuar's brother, who is being hunted by the spiders. Before she can fully explain herself, the sound of the entourage of the spider queen is heard. Arak, Tuar and Sarah are all taken into the house to hide. The spider queen demands that Arak be surrendered for killing one of her human guards and if not, she will randomly kill a member from every family in the village.
Unwilling to let this happen, Arak's father, Sabor, abases himself and claims that he helped Arak escape into the mountains. The queen accepts this story and orders that Sabor will stand in Arak's place for punishment. Sabor's wife, Neska, comes out to plead for mercy and as she does, the queen spies Sarah in the house. Knowing she was seen and not wanting to expose Arak, Sarah comes out and surrenders.
Having seen Sarah disappear, the Doctor heads back to UNIT HQ and takes the TARDIS to Metebelis III. He arrives just as Sarah surrenders. The guards attack him but he overpowers them. One of the guards shoots energy at him as Lupton did earlier and the Doctor is knocked out outside the TARDIS. Sarah disguises herself and slips back in the house leaving the queen frustrated as she returns to the palace.
Sarah convinces Tuar to bring the Doctor in the house though he is sure the Doctor is dead or dying. The Doctor does come around but is very weak. He tells Sarah to get a machine in a bag from the TARDIS. She slips out after curfew and gets it but is captured by the guards, leaving it outside the TARDIS. After they leave, Arak slips out and grabs it. He activates it with help from the Doctor and the Doctor instantly begins to recover.
Back at the meditation center, Lupton's cronies meet in a room to figure out what to do next. They catch Tommy at the door trying to read the sign. They shoo him off but Yates comes over to listen. Yates is also discovered, knocked out and tied up. Tommy meanwhile heads back to his closet and tries to read a book his mother got him. As he does, he is distracted by the blue crystal starting to glow. He focuses on it and it sends a surge of power. The surge clarifies his mind, allowing him to learn as a normal adult.
Sarah is brought to the spider's palace and wrapped up. She is placed with Sabor who tells her how a spider came along with the original colonists but was blown into the mountains with the crystals. The crystals gave it power and made them larger. Four hundred years later, they now extract tribute from the colonists and control the planet.
Having learned the same story, the Doctor has a set of rocks brought in. Examining them, he is able to identify a type of stone that will absorb the power of the blue crystal weapons, giving the colonists the ability to fight the spider's guards. Fashioning a hand device of that stone, the Doctor heads to the palace to rescue Sarah and Sabor. He encounters guards but is able to fight them off. He is then cornered by Lupton, who had been dismissed by the queen after trying to claim a guarantee for securing the crystal. More guards appear and arrest both Lupton and the Doctor, once his stone shield is knocked from his hand. Lupton is taken away but the Doctor is taken to the same cell as Sarah and Sabor.
The queen of the spiders brings Lupton into the council where it is revealed that they know the crystal is still on Earth. Lupton tries to bargain to retrieve it but the spiders weaken him with their mental powers. However, there is dissent within the council as to whether to attack Earth directly or to pursue another course. The queen elects to visit the Great One to receive clarification. Instead she goes into another room and has Sarah brought to her. The queen offers her a deal that in exchange for the crystal, she will arrange that the invasion of Earth will be cancelled. She even agrees to Sarah's demand to leave the villages in peace.
After Sarah is taken away, the Doctor manages to extricate himself from his wrappings. He goes to look for Sarah and is lured away by the sound of her voice. He finds himself in a cave with the Great One, a spider of enormous size and mental power. The spider orders him to return to Earth and bring the crystal. When he tries to refuse, she manipulates his body to demonstrate her power of him, though he tries to fight back.
The Doctor leaves the chamber and meets Sarah leaving the queen's chamber. At the same time, Arak and some other men attack the spider's palace to rescue Sabor. Arak and his men have bound the special rocks to their foreheads to create shields from the crystal weapons of the guards. Arak and his men save Sabor but Sarah uses a teleportation technique taught to her by the queen of the spiders to take her and the Doctor back to the TARDIS. The Doctor tells Neska of Arak's success as he and Sarah enter the TARDIS and disappear.
Meanwhile, Barnes returns to his room and opts to untie Yates when Yates offers to help them reopen the passage to Metebelis III so that Sarah can be recovered. Tommy overhears this while looking for Yates to help him with his studies and goes to Cho-Je to warn him.
The group begin their chanting and open a passage for the spiders, but they appear elsewhere in the cellar rather than on the mat. When Cho-Je arrives to stop them, the spiders stun him. They do the same to Yates when he rises up. The four spiders then get on the backs of Barnes and the others and take hold of them.
The TARDIS arrives at this moment and the group attempt to stun the Doctor in the same way as Cho-Je and Yates but the Doctor is able to deflect the beams using his stone shield. Tommy calls to them and they flee the basement, buying some time by locking the group in. Tommy takes them to see the abbot K'anpo, whom the Doctor has a strange feeling he has met before. The Doctor tells K'anpo of what has been going on while Tommy stands guard outside the door.
K'anpo reveals that he has the crystal, which is attracting the spider controlled men. The reveal also prompts the queen spider, who had taken control of Sarah, to reveal herself. The Doctor urges Sarah to retake control of her mind and uses the crystal as a focusing device. Sarah rejects the queen's control and the feedback kills the queen, prompting her to fall off Sarah's back and disappear. The Doctor then realizes that K'anpo is the same hermit Time Lord he was instructed by long ago (see Episode Six of The Time Monster and that Cho-Je is only a mental projection of his next regeneration. K'anpo also chides the Doctor for giving in to his thirst for knowledge and rejecting his fears, knowing what he must do.
While all this is happening, the four spider controlled men try to get by Tommy standing guard. Tommy holds them off, his innocence acting as a shield to the energy bursts of the spiders. They unite and contact Metebelis III for more power. Lupton, in a fit of pique, tries to take control and the spiders kill him with an energy blast. They are given more power, but the time involved gives Yates and Cho-Je time to come around. Yates throws himself in front of the blast, stunning him again. Tommy rushes to his side, allowing the men to burst through. The Doctor uses the crystal to mentally transport himself back to the cellar and then into the TARDIS. The men fire a bolt to try and stop him but hit K'anpo instead. They then rush to the cellar to find the TARDIS gone.
On Metebelis III, the Doctor runs into Arak and Tuar who offer to lead him in. They instead take him to the spider warren, having been mentally taken over during their raid. The Doctor produces the crystal but states that he will present it to the Great One himself. The spiders allow this, expecting the Doctor to be killed by the Great One.
He goes into the chamber and is bombarded by the radiation of a crystal web the Great One has built. She takes the crystal from him to complete the lattice which will expand her mind. The Doctor warns her that she has built a positive feedback loop and it will kill her but she ignores him. The lattice activates and does indeed begin to burn her mind. The connection expands outwards, killing the other spiders on Metebelis III and the four controlling the humans on Earth. Arak and the rest of the guards come back to their normal selves and flee the mountain along with the Doctor. Weakened, the Doctor enters the TARDIS and heads back to Earth.
In the meditation center, Yates recovers, having been shielded by his selflessness but K'anpo is too weak and instead regenerates into the Cho-Je form, Cho-Je disappearing with the regeneration. Sarah heads back to UNIT headquarters three weeks later with no sign of the Doctor. However after meeting with the Brigadier, the TARDIS appears and the Doctor stumbles out, the radiation having dealt him a mortal blow. The regenerated K'anpo appears and helps initiate the regeneration as the Third Doctor morphs into the Fourth.
Analysis
Although Barry Letts stayed on to oversee the production of Robot, the final Third Doctor story was also his true ending. As would be mimicked by RTD nearly 35 years later, Letts put in all of the elements that were noted from his era into this story: UNIT, alien invasion of Earth, humans delusional for power, CSO, adventure chases, fight sequences involving the Doctor, etc. In fact, had Roger Delgado not died, it is very likely that he would have been in the place of Lupton to complete the swan song. So in many ways, if you have any hang-ups about the Barry Letts era, this story is not necessarily going to sit well with you. For me, I think it summed up my feelings on the era as a whole with an overly middling outlook.
In many aspects, this isn't a bad set up for a story with an interesting way of tying in a lot of loose elements from prior stories. Nearly everything is brought in in a way that makes sense and does have a natural flow. Where the story falls down is in it's indulgences, certain performances and design. Had this story been tightened up a bit so as to cut down in a few places as well as a little more time in the final design, I think this story could have been much better.
In terms of the Doctor, I think he did very well. He was a bit looser and more natural, but he usually is in the 11th season with Sarah Jane. Perhaps it was just the responsibility with Jo that made him go a bit tight-assed in earlier stories. But the Doctor is enjoyable here. He's presented with a mystery, he is forced to solve it and at no point do things get fouled up because of a mistake on the Doctor's part. The attack on the spider's lair was a bit short-sighted as he should have avoided capture, but it's only a small niggle.
About the only other part that I didn't care for with the Doctor was in Episode Six and that was all about the writing. K'anpo chastises the Doctor for being greedy with knowledge. That makes no sense. It is not greed that has been his shortfall but pride. He has gotten into a number of scrapes and even gotten people killed because he is too prideful to admit that he is wrong or needs help. That is his true failing and humility should be the lesson he must learn. It is overcoming pride and acceptance of the needs of the situation, which means accepting that he might die, that propels things forward. Greed of knowledge has nothing to do with any of that. But again, that is writing, not performance.
Sarah did well and was quite enjoyable. I liked the way the hook of her being a journalist was actually used to kick this story into motion and also gave her agency towards acting the role of Nancy Drew. I also liked the subtle change in acting that was used after the queen spider took possession of her. It shows how comfortable you can get with a performance when small changes just set off little bells in your head. When Sarah emerged after being taken over by the queen, she was just too happy-go-lucky and eager. It reminded me of someone who had just taken some uppers and I knew that something was off. When it was revealed that the queen had control of her, it put everything into focus and made the change in performance pay off.
Most of the other protagonist performances were fairly decent, though I wouldn't say that any were of a particularly high caliber with perhaps the exception of Tommy. He is an endearing character as someone with a learning difficulty and he becomes only more interesting when the crystal clears his mind and makes him more articulate. The huge exception to the acting rule is Neska. That performance is downright atrocious. I have arguably seen better performances in plays my kids have been in and as neither one is in high school yet, that tells you about the caliber of acting typically seen. Fortunately she only has two scenes but in both she just sticks out, especially as everyone else around her is at least trying, even if they are lesser quality actors themselves.
I'm a bit mixed on the villains. Of the humans, only Lupton is really worth noting. The others are of such small scale and small acting quality that they are barely worth noting. Lupton himself starts well, but diminishes after the first two episodes. Once the action shifts to Metebelis III and the spiders take over as the true villains, Lupton is almost lost as a figure. He only comes about a few more times, mostly to protest his treatment by the spiders and try to bluff his way to a better role. In many ways, he really is a stand in for the Master. I have a very hard time believing that Barry Letts and Robert Sloman did not have a visual of someone like Roger Delgado in that role, even though Delgado had been dead for nearly a year at the point of initial broadcast.
As for the spiders, I thought the spider puppets themselves weren't bad and I liked their mental powers overcoming the obvious physical superiority that humans would have. I did not like the fact that although three different women supplied voices for the spiders, they were modulated and sounded very similar to me. It made listening to conversations between the spiders rather difficult to follow. I would rather have had a bit more distinction in the voices as having them unmodulated would have helped. I also wish the settings for the spiders had been changed. The exterior showed mounds of rock with webbing. But inside it was clean hallways and manufactured tables. I also thought it was too well lit. Spiders should operate in the dark and they should have been arranged in council in a giant web in a dank cave. That would have upped the creepiness factor as well. It just seems like a missed opportunity where the production made the spiders look more fake by putting them in such an out of place setting.
There are a lot of ups and downs in this story with some good production values and acting and some poor production values and acting. A lot of people don't like the self-indulgent car chase that takes up half of Episode Two. I didn't mind it because I grew up watching car chase shows and it's arguably more fun to fill time chasing after the bad guy in a car that just in running down an empty corridor. Granted the swapping of the Whomobile and the microlite was a bit silly as well as the comedy moment of the Doctor nearly running over the tramp in a hovercraft, but it was still fairly entertaining. Really, as long as the story was on Earth, it move fairly well and was engaging. It wasn't until the story shifted to Metebelis III that the time-filling elements began to creep in and the story began to bog down.
But even with the limitations here and there, I think this story would pass as a slightly above average story if it weren't for the overall resolution. This story spend five and a half episodes where the Doctor and others worked to keep the crystal away from the Great One. In the end, the Doctor brings it to them and the Great One's arrogance destroys herself. So all the fighting, injury and death was for nothing. If Lupton had been transported with the crystal and presented it to the Great One in Episode Three, the story would have ended and the spiders would have been destroyed. The Doctor's involvement was essentially pointless.
It gets even worse when you factor in that standing in the belt of radiation emanating from the crystal web the Great One had created is what kills the Third Doctor. It is not an act of heroism or being mortally wounded to prevent the villain from triumphing. He dies while watching his enemy destroy itself, with no help from him at all. To make it more aggravating, there is a chance to make a case for regenerating built into the story. The Doctor is zapped and appears to be mortally wounded at the beginning of Episode Four. His gadget zaps him back to health about halfway through. If he had made a comment that all the gadget did was buy him some time but that his body was still dying, that would have set things up better for the end (such as was done in The Caves of Androzani). He was dying and so facing that death nobly by setting up the spiders for destruction would have made the scene play better. As is, the story just feels like a waste of time.
Again, if you discount the ending, I think this story can be enjoyable, especially if you like the overall nature of the Third Doctor stories. If I were judging it up until the halfway mark of Episode Six, I think I would have gone easily with a three and could have seen the merit of considering a 3.5. Not great but an average to good story. But the ending leaves such a bad taste in my mouth that I can't quite overcome. It's not a complete killer but when you spend six episodes and feel like nothing was accomplished other than the Doctor getting himself killed, the journey just wasn't worth it. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of the Third Doctor era, but this is not one that I would rush for a rewatch, especially now that I've seen it twice.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
Thursday, October 19, 2017
The Brain of Morbius
That squalid brood of harpies, the Sisterhood. That accursed hag Maren found out I was holding a Time Lord and rescued him. May her stinking bones rot! I'll see her die Condo! I'll see that palsied harridan scream for death before Morbius and I are finished with her.
Continuing in the trend of taking old stories and putting a Doctor Who spin on them, we now go to Frankenstein. This is another story that is highly regarded as a classic but for which I didn't care as much on my first watch. Granted, I'm not that big on the story of Frankenstein (original or the various movie adaptations) so the setting for this one put me a little off right from the get go. But we shall have to see if a second visit improves my opinion of things.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Sarah arrive on the planet Karn, the Doctor highly put out as he suspects the Time Lords to have redirected him there. Although he tries to sit things out, he can't overcome his curiosity when Sarah discovers the decapitated body of an insectoid who crashed on planet. In fact, they discover a number of ships crashed into the surface of the planet. They also spy a small castle nearby and head towards it as it begins to rain.
Their movements are observed by Ohica, an acolyte in the Sisterhood of Karn, a society of women that tends a sacred flame that produces a special "Elixir of Life" which they share with the Time Lords. Ohica reports to the leader Maren and Maren discloses that the flame is dying and hasn't produced Elixir in over a year. She suspects that the Time Lords are interfering and summons the other acolytes to investigate.
The Doctor and Sarah arrive at the castle where lives a surgeon named Solon and his dimwitted servant, Condo. Solon invites them in and attempts to appear welcoming. He is in fact only interested in the Doctor's head, having been looking for a suitable specimen for some time. In fact, the decapitated body found was Condo's work, Condo having been promised a replacement arm after Solon completes his work. Solon takes them in and offers them drugged wine. The Doctor drinks it but Sarah does not. The Doctor recognizes Solon and also manages to recognize a bust of the renegade Time Lord Morbius just before he passes out. Sarah mimics doing the same.
Solon has Condo take the Doctor to his lab but elects not to operate until they repair the generator as he does not wish to operate by candlelight. Sarah gets up and sneaks down the hall, hiding as they pass. Unbeknownst to any of them, the Sisterhood has gathered together and using their power, teleported the TARDIS to their cave. Feeling vindicated in her suspicions, Maren has the Sisterhood use their power once again and teleports the Doctor to their cave. Sarah enters the lab a minute later but instead of finding the Doctor, finds a body constructed from various creatures by Solon.
Sarah hides as Solon and Condo reenter. They notice that the Doctor is missing but Condo assures Solon that he put the full vial of the drug in the wine. Solon immediately suspects the Sisterhood and he and Condo leave to see what they plan to do with the Doctor. Sarah follows behind them.
In the Sisterhood's temple, the Doctor comes to and Maren offers him a chance to admit his collusion with the Time Lords. The Doctor admits that he might have been sent by the Time Lords though he isn't sure but denies any plan to steal the Elixir of Life. The Doctor also tells them that he thought he felt the presence of Morbius just before he passed out. Maren scoffs at this, stating that she was present when Morbius was executed and is certain he is dead.
Solon and Condo observe a couple of Sisters entering their cave with wood and follow them. They enter just as the Doctor is being tied to a pole with a pyre built around him. Solon intercedes for the Doctor, first offering Condo as a replacement and then begging for just the head of the Doctor if he must die. Maren denies both and shoos them off. However, while they are distracted, Sarah, disguised as a member of the Sisterhood, reaches up and cuts the ropes binding the Doctor to the pole. As the Sisterhood lights the pyre, the Doctor leaps off and he and Sarah make a run for it. Maren sends a bolt of energy after them from her ring which hits Sarah but they still manage to loose them.
Solon and Condo return to their castle and Condo attacks Solon for offering him as a replacement. Solon only placates him by offering to restore his arm. Condo relents and goes to prepare the lab. Solon then goes downstairs and speaks to Morbius for whom he is building the new body. Morbius is becoming impatient and wants implantation immediately. They are interrupted by the sound of the door opening upstairs.
Condo and Solon enter the main hall and find the Doctor and Sarah sitting at the table. The Doctor tells Solon that Sarah was blinded by Maren's ring and wants him to examine her eyes. They head to the lab where Solon looks closely. He has Condo take her back to the main hall and informs the Doctor that the retinas are almost completely destroyed. Her only hope of regaining her sight is to drink the Elixir of Life which can restore tissue. The Doctor leaves, leaving Sarah at the castle.
Solon then writes a note and calls Condo. He tells him to give it to Maren and to get there before the Doctor. Condo rushes off. This leaves Sarah alone in the hall where she hears a voice calling for Solon. She follows it down the stairs but is unable to see the brain of Morbius speaking from within a jar. Morbius cries out and Solon shoves her out of the room. Sarah however stays in the stairwell to listen.
Solon tells Morbius that he has offered a deal with the Sisterhood that will return the Doctor's head to him. Morbius is alarmed when Solon mentions that the Doctor is a Time Lord and fears that the Time Lords have discovered him. Also fearing that the Doctor has made a deal with the Sisterhood, Morbius orders Solon to put him in the artificial brain case that Solon manufactured. Solon objects noting that he never got it working right and the risk might be too great but Morbius overrides him. Before he can continue, Sarah pulls the door shut and locks Solon in. She then wanders out to warn the Doctor.
The Doctor arrives at the Sisterhood's cave, is captured and brought before Maren. She had just received the letter from Solon warning her of his approach and offering a deal in exchange for his head. The Doctor explains his problem but Maren laughs, telling the Doctor he has been tricked as the ring's effects are only temporary. She also notes that the fire is dying and they have no more elixir anyway. The Doctor examines the flame and pops a firecracker down into the hole. The fire goes out for a moment and then a burst of flame erupts. The Doctor notes that there was a build up of soot and that should have cleared things out. Still suspicious and disbelieving of the Doctor's theory regarding Morbius, Maren renders the Doctor unconscious and has her acolytes bear him to Solon.
While looking for the Doctor, Sarah is discovered by Condo who drags her back to the castle. He frees Solon who ties her up in his lab. Condo strokes her hair but Solon orders him to get the lab ready. As he does, Condo discovers his arm attached to the body Solon had put together. Condo attacks Solon and knocks Morbius' brain out of its jar and on to the floor. Solon shoots him and rescues the brain, replacing it in the jar. Gut-shot, Condo stumbles off but Solon, not wanting to let the brain die, frees Sarah and forces her to assist him in the operation.
With the operation nearly finished, Solon is interrupted by the Sisterhood depositing the Doctor. He goes up to examine the Doctor but Morbius rises up off the table, controlled only by animal instinct. He advances and attacks Sarah, who had just regained her sight. She dodges away and runs upstairs, warning Solon. Solon runs downstairs and tries to stop Morbius but he knocks him down and lurches upstairs.
The Doctor comes to and Sarah warns him of Morbius' approach. Morbius emerges and knocks the Doctor down. He then turns on Sarah but Condo, still wounded, lurches to help her. Morbius overpowers and kills him. He then stumbles out toward the cave of the Sisterhood. The Doctor revives and carries Sarah down to the room where Morbius was to let her recover. He then returns to the lab where Solon has revived and arming a stun gun. Together they pursue Morbius.
Morbius discovers a member of the Sisterhood watching and kills her. After discovering her, the Doctor and Solon split up to look for Morbius and Morbius attacks the Doctor. Solon shoots Morbius, knocking him out and together they take him back to the castle. The Doctor threatens Solon to disconnect Morbius so that he can take him back to Gallifrey. He then leaves to check on Sarah but Solon follows him and locks the two of them in the room. Solon then resumes the surgery, correcting what was missed before.
Trapped in the room with no escape, the Doctor devises a plan. He mixes several chemicals in a dish and places them in a ventilation shaft. He then adds cyanide to the mixture. The mixture creates a gas which drifts up and kills Solon. However Morbius is unharmed. He comes down to the room where the Doctor challenges him to a mental battle. Morbius accepts, promising to kill him.
The Doctor and Morbius engage their minds using equipment in the lab. Morbius overpowers the Doctor but the mental strain is too much after the surgery and there is an electrical discharge in his brain case, forcing him to break off. The Doctor collapses into a coma, the strain too much for him. Morbius however stumbles upstairs, trying to clear the haze.
Meanwhile, the Sisterhood discovers the body of their murdered sister. Ohica becomes convinced that the Doctor was telling the truth that Solon has resurrected Morbius. She gets permission from Maren to lead the Sisterhood against Solon and Morbius. They gather torches and enter Solon's castle just as Morbius emerges from his battle with the Doctor. Already weak from his battle with the Doctor, Morbius flees from the torch-welding mob. The Sisterhood corners him on the edge of a cliff and drive him over the side to be smashed to pieces below.
Ohica finds Sarah and the Doctor. Noting that the Doctor is dying, they take him to the Sisterhood's cave for Maren to examine him. Maren notes that only the elixir can save him. A small amount had been created after the Doctor cleared the flame. Though she needs it, Maren orders Ohica to give it to the Doctor. The Doctor drinks it and recovers. Maren then passes into the sacred fire where she becomes young and then disappears.
The Doctor gives Ohica a couple more firecrackers to clean out the fire pit should it be required. He and Sarah then enter into the TARDIS and disappear, though the Doctor has the TARDIS leave in a bang and flash rather than it's usual vanishing act as a final joke.
Analysis
Unfortunately, a second pass through The Brain of Morbius did not improve the story for me. There are several small nits to pick here and there but the fundamental flaw of the overall story is that the Doctor acts like a childish moron throughout the story. If the Doctor was written in any way that was halfway competent, the story would have been over within one episode. Having your main character be deliberately stupid does not make for a good hook to draw one in.
So let's start with the Doctor. We always expect a certain level of naivety and some childishness, especially with the Fourth Doctor. His petulance at being tossed into a situation to do a job for the Time Lords is understandable and even entertaining. But after that, things go downhill. Sarah has the good sense to avoid the drugged wine but the Doctor does not, even though Solon might as well have "creepy bad guy" tattooed on his head. He continually dismisses the danger posed by Solon and Morbius. His playing around nearly kills Sarah when Morbius breaks loose the first time and does get Condo killed. He also allows Solon to finish his work on Morbius by being stupid and letting himself and Sarah get locked in a room, a trick that Sarah pulled on Solon. This actually forces the Doctor to become a blatant murder as he had to have been aware that Solon would have been in the room with Morbius and breathing the same cyanide gas. Even the final battle was a failure on the Doctor's part as he is mortally wounded by Morbius. It is only the flaws in the braincase (which Solon pointed out) that weaken Morbius to the point where he is easily driven over a cliff by the Sisterhood. Doctor Who is at its best when the Doctor is the central hero. Here he isn't even playing the helper role. All the critical actions (except the murder of Solon) are done by others.
On the flip side of things Sarah is very strong and this even includes her being without sight for nearly two episodes. Sarah has the presence of mind to see Solon for what he was and avoid the drugged wine. She rescues the Doctor from the Sisterhood at the cost of her own sight (temporarily) and manages to cage Solon to try and warn the Doctor a second time. She is constantly there for the Doctor and is never rescued by him. Her one instance of being in trouble is a direct result of the Doctor and it is Condo that saves her. If you are fond of Sarah Jane, this is a very strong story for her, but with the Doctor being as stupid as he is, she's being forced to make up for his shortcomings.
There are a lot of roles where I like Philip Madoc but this story is one where he goes up to eleven and never comes back down again. He's clearly trying to play the mad but frustrated genius but there is no subtlety in his performance. His constant irritation at Condo makes you question why Condo would ever believe or listen to him. Similarly, his lack of subtlety only makes the Doctor look that much dumber for not seeing him as he is at the start of the story. His only moment where he pulls it in is when the Doctor has him cornered and forces him to examine Sarah's eyes. He keeps things in check to the point where the lie is believable and that sends the Doctor off again. Knowing that this performance is obtainable, it makes the other moments where Solon goes to the extreme seem that much more out of place. I just couldn't get into it.
Condo, again by contrast, is quite enjoyable. He is the typical Igor type character but doesn't go over the top. He give you the strong impression that while a slow person, he has his own level of intelligence about him. He has things he cares about and things that he wants, which keeps him tied to Solon. Of course he is not above violence and even going after Solon whom he knows deep down is a liar and foul person. It would have been very easy to go too far in Condo's portrayal but I think it was done well and sets up one of the most believable characters in the story.
The Sisterhood was pretty good for the most part. Maven was quite good and most of the Sisterhood seems to perform well but I thought Ohica was a bit too stiff. I get that she was trying to be formal but it still seemed more like someone who wasn't quite comfortable with their lines. I thought the Sisterhood did fairly well in their plot as well but I had a hang up with the idea that they would be so ignorant of what Solon was up to. They knew he was cutting up corpses and if Morbius was such a significant enemy to them, I find it hard to believe that he could have shielded himself completely from them. This gives them the appearance of being a bit more inept that you might have expected from a society that freely interacted with the Time Lords.
I thought about saying something about Morbius but he's not much more than a MacGuffin so there's little to say outside of the Time Lord brain match. This always sticks in the fan's craw as anyone can clearly see both in direction and in dialogue that the faces of the crew shown are meant to be prior versions of the Doctor. People attempt to retcon them to Morbius but that does go against the nature of the scene. Still, I can bring myself to care that much. It does throw a wrench into things from a continuity standpoint, but so do a lot of things and this scene at least has some dramatic tension. The real question is why does Solon just have one of these devices lying around?
I will praise the set design and the overall atmosphere of the story. It is completely studio and looks it at times, but the overall atmosphere is very enjoyable. There is the gloom and sense of fear pervading the story that you would need to give the story an extra sense of dread and call back to the old Universal 1931 version of Frankenstein. I wish the direction had been at the same caliber. It's not bad but it is fairly pedestrian and doesn't draw the eye in any significant way. I also blame the director for some of the failures of the acting performances as that would be his job to tell them to reign it in or ramp it up as the situation requires.
There are all the little things but I think the ultimate problem of the story is the writing. Terrence Dicks wrote the original treatment but it got reworked by Robert Holmes. Between the two men, changes were either introduced or old holes were not covered up that ultimately bring it down. People always seem to talk about the atmosphere and the quips, especially by Solon, in this story but when you boil it down, there are a lot of flaws in the overall plot and you can't wave those away by simply talking about how moody or intelligent things sound.
Ultimately, my trepidation for this story was somewhat justified. It's not painful and there are some things to enjoy about it. But it does have deep flaws that are all around and can't be overlooked. On a basic level, the story can be enjoyed, especially if the watcher is not overly familiar with some of the better written stories. But once you've been exposed to either the tighter plotlines or devious, intelligent nature of the Doctor in other stories, it's hard to not see the warts that are freely visible in this story.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
Continuing in the trend of taking old stories and putting a Doctor Who spin on them, we now go to Frankenstein. This is another story that is highly regarded as a classic but for which I didn't care as much on my first watch. Granted, I'm not that big on the story of Frankenstein (original or the various movie adaptations) so the setting for this one put me a little off right from the get go. But we shall have to see if a second visit improves my opinion of things.
Plot Summary
The Doctor and Sarah arrive on the planet Karn, the Doctor highly put out as he suspects the Time Lords to have redirected him there. Although he tries to sit things out, he can't overcome his curiosity when Sarah discovers the decapitated body of an insectoid who crashed on planet. In fact, they discover a number of ships crashed into the surface of the planet. They also spy a small castle nearby and head towards it as it begins to rain.
Their movements are observed by Ohica, an acolyte in the Sisterhood of Karn, a society of women that tends a sacred flame that produces a special "Elixir of Life" which they share with the Time Lords. Ohica reports to the leader Maren and Maren discloses that the flame is dying and hasn't produced Elixir in over a year. She suspects that the Time Lords are interfering and summons the other acolytes to investigate.
The Doctor and Sarah arrive at the castle where lives a surgeon named Solon and his dimwitted servant, Condo. Solon invites them in and attempts to appear welcoming. He is in fact only interested in the Doctor's head, having been looking for a suitable specimen for some time. In fact, the decapitated body found was Condo's work, Condo having been promised a replacement arm after Solon completes his work. Solon takes them in and offers them drugged wine. The Doctor drinks it but Sarah does not. The Doctor recognizes Solon and also manages to recognize a bust of the renegade Time Lord Morbius just before he passes out. Sarah mimics doing the same.
Solon has Condo take the Doctor to his lab but elects not to operate until they repair the generator as he does not wish to operate by candlelight. Sarah gets up and sneaks down the hall, hiding as they pass. Unbeknownst to any of them, the Sisterhood has gathered together and using their power, teleported the TARDIS to their cave. Feeling vindicated in her suspicions, Maren has the Sisterhood use their power once again and teleports the Doctor to their cave. Sarah enters the lab a minute later but instead of finding the Doctor, finds a body constructed from various creatures by Solon.
Sarah hides as Solon and Condo reenter. They notice that the Doctor is missing but Condo assures Solon that he put the full vial of the drug in the wine. Solon immediately suspects the Sisterhood and he and Condo leave to see what they plan to do with the Doctor. Sarah follows behind them.
In the Sisterhood's temple, the Doctor comes to and Maren offers him a chance to admit his collusion with the Time Lords. The Doctor admits that he might have been sent by the Time Lords though he isn't sure but denies any plan to steal the Elixir of Life. The Doctor also tells them that he thought he felt the presence of Morbius just before he passed out. Maren scoffs at this, stating that she was present when Morbius was executed and is certain he is dead.
Solon and Condo observe a couple of Sisters entering their cave with wood and follow them. They enter just as the Doctor is being tied to a pole with a pyre built around him. Solon intercedes for the Doctor, first offering Condo as a replacement and then begging for just the head of the Doctor if he must die. Maren denies both and shoos them off. However, while they are distracted, Sarah, disguised as a member of the Sisterhood, reaches up and cuts the ropes binding the Doctor to the pole. As the Sisterhood lights the pyre, the Doctor leaps off and he and Sarah make a run for it. Maren sends a bolt of energy after them from her ring which hits Sarah but they still manage to loose them.
Solon and Condo return to their castle and Condo attacks Solon for offering him as a replacement. Solon only placates him by offering to restore his arm. Condo relents and goes to prepare the lab. Solon then goes downstairs and speaks to Morbius for whom he is building the new body. Morbius is becoming impatient and wants implantation immediately. They are interrupted by the sound of the door opening upstairs.
Condo and Solon enter the main hall and find the Doctor and Sarah sitting at the table. The Doctor tells Solon that Sarah was blinded by Maren's ring and wants him to examine her eyes. They head to the lab where Solon looks closely. He has Condo take her back to the main hall and informs the Doctor that the retinas are almost completely destroyed. Her only hope of regaining her sight is to drink the Elixir of Life which can restore tissue. The Doctor leaves, leaving Sarah at the castle.
Solon then writes a note and calls Condo. He tells him to give it to Maren and to get there before the Doctor. Condo rushes off. This leaves Sarah alone in the hall where she hears a voice calling for Solon. She follows it down the stairs but is unable to see the brain of Morbius speaking from within a jar. Morbius cries out and Solon shoves her out of the room. Sarah however stays in the stairwell to listen.
Solon tells Morbius that he has offered a deal with the Sisterhood that will return the Doctor's head to him. Morbius is alarmed when Solon mentions that the Doctor is a Time Lord and fears that the Time Lords have discovered him. Also fearing that the Doctor has made a deal with the Sisterhood, Morbius orders Solon to put him in the artificial brain case that Solon manufactured. Solon objects noting that he never got it working right and the risk might be too great but Morbius overrides him. Before he can continue, Sarah pulls the door shut and locks Solon in. She then wanders out to warn the Doctor.
The Doctor arrives at the Sisterhood's cave, is captured and brought before Maren. She had just received the letter from Solon warning her of his approach and offering a deal in exchange for his head. The Doctor explains his problem but Maren laughs, telling the Doctor he has been tricked as the ring's effects are only temporary. She also notes that the fire is dying and they have no more elixir anyway. The Doctor examines the flame and pops a firecracker down into the hole. The fire goes out for a moment and then a burst of flame erupts. The Doctor notes that there was a build up of soot and that should have cleared things out. Still suspicious and disbelieving of the Doctor's theory regarding Morbius, Maren renders the Doctor unconscious and has her acolytes bear him to Solon.
While looking for the Doctor, Sarah is discovered by Condo who drags her back to the castle. He frees Solon who ties her up in his lab. Condo strokes her hair but Solon orders him to get the lab ready. As he does, Condo discovers his arm attached to the body Solon had put together. Condo attacks Solon and knocks Morbius' brain out of its jar and on to the floor. Solon shoots him and rescues the brain, replacing it in the jar. Gut-shot, Condo stumbles off but Solon, not wanting to let the brain die, frees Sarah and forces her to assist him in the operation.
With the operation nearly finished, Solon is interrupted by the Sisterhood depositing the Doctor. He goes up to examine the Doctor but Morbius rises up off the table, controlled only by animal instinct. He advances and attacks Sarah, who had just regained her sight. She dodges away and runs upstairs, warning Solon. Solon runs downstairs and tries to stop Morbius but he knocks him down and lurches upstairs.
The Doctor comes to and Sarah warns him of Morbius' approach. Morbius emerges and knocks the Doctor down. He then turns on Sarah but Condo, still wounded, lurches to help her. Morbius overpowers and kills him. He then stumbles out toward the cave of the Sisterhood. The Doctor revives and carries Sarah down to the room where Morbius was to let her recover. He then returns to the lab where Solon has revived and arming a stun gun. Together they pursue Morbius.
Morbius discovers a member of the Sisterhood watching and kills her. After discovering her, the Doctor and Solon split up to look for Morbius and Morbius attacks the Doctor. Solon shoots Morbius, knocking him out and together they take him back to the castle. The Doctor threatens Solon to disconnect Morbius so that he can take him back to Gallifrey. He then leaves to check on Sarah but Solon follows him and locks the two of them in the room. Solon then resumes the surgery, correcting what was missed before.
Trapped in the room with no escape, the Doctor devises a plan. He mixes several chemicals in a dish and places them in a ventilation shaft. He then adds cyanide to the mixture. The mixture creates a gas which drifts up and kills Solon. However Morbius is unharmed. He comes down to the room where the Doctor challenges him to a mental battle. Morbius accepts, promising to kill him.
The Doctor and Morbius engage their minds using equipment in the lab. Morbius overpowers the Doctor but the mental strain is too much after the surgery and there is an electrical discharge in his brain case, forcing him to break off. The Doctor collapses into a coma, the strain too much for him. Morbius however stumbles upstairs, trying to clear the haze.
Meanwhile, the Sisterhood discovers the body of their murdered sister. Ohica becomes convinced that the Doctor was telling the truth that Solon has resurrected Morbius. She gets permission from Maren to lead the Sisterhood against Solon and Morbius. They gather torches and enter Solon's castle just as Morbius emerges from his battle with the Doctor. Already weak from his battle with the Doctor, Morbius flees from the torch-welding mob. The Sisterhood corners him on the edge of a cliff and drive him over the side to be smashed to pieces below.
Ohica finds Sarah and the Doctor. Noting that the Doctor is dying, they take him to the Sisterhood's cave for Maren to examine him. Maren notes that only the elixir can save him. A small amount had been created after the Doctor cleared the flame. Though she needs it, Maren orders Ohica to give it to the Doctor. The Doctor drinks it and recovers. Maren then passes into the sacred fire where she becomes young and then disappears.
The Doctor gives Ohica a couple more firecrackers to clean out the fire pit should it be required. He and Sarah then enter into the TARDIS and disappear, though the Doctor has the TARDIS leave in a bang and flash rather than it's usual vanishing act as a final joke.
Analysis
Unfortunately, a second pass through The Brain of Morbius did not improve the story for me. There are several small nits to pick here and there but the fundamental flaw of the overall story is that the Doctor acts like a childish moron throughout the story. If the Doctor was written in any way that was halfway competent, the story would have been over within one episode. Having your main character be deliberately stupid does not make for a good hook to draw one in.
So let's start with the Doctor. We always expect a certain level of naivety and some childishness, especially with the Fourth Doctor. His petulance at being tossed into a situation to do a job for the Time Lords is understandable and even entertaining. But after that, things go downhill. Sarah has the good sense to avoid the drugged wine but the Doctor does not, even though Solon might as well have "creepy bad guy" tattooed on his head. He continually dismisses the danger posed by Solon and Morbius. His playing around nearly kills Sarah when Morbius breaks loose the first time and does get Condo killed. He also allows Solon to finish his work on Morbius by being stupid and letting himself and Sarah get locked in a room, a trick that Sarah pulled on Solon. This actually forces the Doctor to become a blatant murder as he had to have been aware that Solon would have been in the room with Morbius and breathing the same cyanide gas. Even the final battle was a failure on the Doctor's part as he is mortally wounded by Morbius. It is only the flaws in the braincase (which Solon pointed out) that weaken Morbius to the point where he is easily driven over a cliff by the Sisterhood. Doctor Who is at its best when the Doctor is the central hero. Here he isn't even playing the helper role. All the critical actions (except the murder of Solon) are done by others.
On the flip side of things Sarah is very strong and this even includes her being without sight for nearly two episodes. Sarah has the presence of mind to see Solon for what he was and avoid the drugged wine. She rescues the Doctor from the Sisterhood at the cost of her own sight (temporarily) and manages to cage Solon to try and warn the Doctor a second time. She is constantly there for the Doctor and is never rescued by him. Her one instance of being in trouble is a direct result of the Doctor and it is Condo that saves her. If you are fond of Sarah Jane, this is a very strong story for her, but with the Doctor being as stupid as he is, she's being forced to make up for his shortcomings.
There are a lot of roles where I like Philip Madoc but this story is one where he goes up to eleven and never comes back down again. He's clearly trying to play the mad but frustrated genius but there is no subtlety in his performance. His constant irritation at Condo makes you question why Condo would ever believe or listen to him. Similarly, his lack of subtlety only makes the Doctor look that much dumber for not seeing him as he is at the start of the story. His only moment where he pulls it in is when the Doctor has him cornered and forces him to examine Sarah's eyes. He keeps things in check to the point where the lie is believable and that sends the Doctor off again. Knowing that this performance is obtainable, it makes the other moments where Solon goes to the extreme seem that much more out of place. I just couldn't get into it.
Condo, again by contrast, is quite enjoyable. He is the typical Igor type character but doesn't go over the top. He give you the strong impression that while a slow person, he has his own level of intelligence about him. He has things he cares about and things that he wants, which keeps him tied to Solon. Of course he is not above violence and even going after Solon whom he knows deep down is a liar and foul person. It would have been very easy to go too far in Condo's portrayal but I think it was done well and sets up one of the most believable characters in the story.
The Sisterhood was pretty good for the most part. Maven was quite good and most of the Sisterhood seems to perform well but I thought Ohica was a bit too stiff. I get that she was trying to be formal but it still seemed more like someone who wasn't quite comfortable with their lines. I thought the Sisterhood did fairly well in their plot as well but I had a hang up with the idea that they would be so ignorant of what Solon was up to. They knew he was cutting up corpses and if Morbius was such a significant enemy to them, I find it hard to believe that he could have shielded himself completely from them. This gives them the appearance of being a bit more inept that you might have expected from a society that freely interacted with the Time Lords.
I thought about saying something about Morbius but he's not much more than a MacGuffin so there's little to say outside of the Time Lord brain match. This always sticks in the fan's craw as anyone can clearly see both in direction and in dialogue that the faces of the crew shown are meant to be prior versions of the Doctor. People attempt to retcon them to Morbius but that does go against the nature of the scene. Still, I can bring myself to care that much. It does throw a wrench into things from a continuity standpoint, but so do a lot of things and this scene at least has some dramatic tension. The real question is why does Solon just have one of these devices lying around?
I will praise the set design and the overall atmosphere of the story. It is completely studio and looks it at times, but the overall atmosphere is very enjoyable. There is the gloom and sense of fear pervading the story that you would need to give the story an extra sense of dread and call back to the old Universal 1931 version of Frankenstein. I wish the direction had been at the same caliber. It's not bad but it is fairly pedestrian and doesn't draw the eye in any significant way. I also blame the director for some of the failures of the acting performances as that would be his job to tell them to reign it in or ramp it up as the situation requires.
There are all the little things but I think the ultimate problem of the story is the writing. Terrence Dicks wrote the original treatment but it got reworked by Robert Holmes. Between the two men, changes were either introduced or old holes were not covered up that ultimately bring it down. People always seem to talk about the atmosphere and the quips, especially by Solon, in this story but when you boil it down, there are a lot of flaws in the overall plot and you can't wave those away by simply talking about how moody or intelligent things sound.
Ultimately, my trepidation for this story was somewhat justified. It's not painful and there are some things to enjoy about it. But it does have deep flaws that are all around and can't be overlooked. On a basic level, the story can be enjoyed, especially if the watcher is not overly familiar with some of the better written stories. But once you've been exposed to either the tighter plotlines or devious, intelligent nature of the Doctor in other stories, it's hard to not see the warts that are freely visible in this story.
Overall personal score: 2 out of 5
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
The Time Monster
You are like a child trying to control an elephant.
I'm a little sad to be posting this. Although I have three stories remaining for me to cover, this is the last of the classic era stories that I have not seen. When I first started this, I'm sure The Time Monster was not the story that I would have picked to finish on, but things just always seem to divert to other stories. My preference for watching four-part stories or longer stories from the black and white era did keep pushing this one further and further down the list. But now the list is empty and here we are.
My expectations for this story are low. Boring is the word I've heard most often to describe it but that's a matter of preference. Of course, it's also a Barry Letts and Robert Sloman script and that gives me pause. I really liked The Green Death but I think my patience for The Dæmons was lower than the standard Doctor Who fan so those balance each other out. I don't think I minded Planet of the Spiders that much the first time I watched it but I need to reserve judgment until I go for the re-watch. So we shall just have to see if this either lives down to its reputation or if I am pleasantly surprised.
Plot Summary
The Doctor wakes from a nightmare where there were a great number of natural disasters and the Master taking command of the Earth using a three-pronged crystal. Unsettled by this dream, he ask Jo to look for any news of recent earthquakes or volcanoes. Jo scoffs a bit as she had read him a news article on such activity happening in Greece only yesterday. He again doesn't pay much attention until Jo notes that the site was in the vicinity where archaeologists believe that the island that inspired Atlantis was. Upon hearing that, the Doctor alerts the Brigadier, though the Brigadier notes that UNIT is already on high alert looking for the Master.
The Brigadier prepares to leave for a meeting at a university near Cambridge to observe experiments being done with time and the transport of matter. The Doctor begs off, wanting to work on looking for the Master so the Brigadier pulls Sargent Benton in. At the university, the experiments are being done by the Master, who is going under the pseudonym Professor Thascalos. He prepares to meet with the observing delegation and leaves the equipment to his two colleagues: Dr. Ingram and Stuart Hyde. While the Master is hypnotizing Dr. Percival, the head of the department who has become suspicious of the Master, Ingram and Hyde conduct a test run of the equipment. They successfully transport an object from one terminal to the other but cause a strange phenomena with time. This phenomena causes a window washer to fall off his ladder though he is not killed.
The tests register on a detector that the Doctor has managed to put together. However, the range is too broad to hone in on the signal. The Doctor and Jo get into Bessie and drive around in the range zone, hoping for another signal that will allow them to locate the Master.
Though he is displeased by Ingram and Hyde's experiments without him, the Master plays it off. Seeing that UNIT has come along on the inspection, the Master sends Ingram off to meet them while he tinkers with the equipment. When they arrive after lunch for the experiment, the Master has donned a radiation suit to hide his appearance from the Brigadier. The Master activates the equipment, alerting the Doctor to his location. The Doctor and Jo race to the college while the Master throws the equipment into overdrive, calling out for the appearance of Kronos.
Ingram rushes to shut down the machine after Hyde collapses. The Master rushes out of the room as the Doctor rushes in, having noticed that time has slowed down outside the room. They manage to deactivate the machine but find that Hyde has aged from his twenties to his eighties in only a few minutes.
After leaving Hyde in the care of Jo, the Doctor and Ingram return to the lab to investigate the equipment. The Brigadier returns to a makeshift headquarters where he takes command of the place, requests that additional munitions be brought up and that all non-essential personnel leave the college. In the lab, the Doctor examines the equipment and discovers the Master’s TARDIS. He also examines the crystal but believes it’s only a temporal projection of the real crystal. The Doctor explains to Ingram that Kronos, as called for by the Master, is a creature known as a cronovore and was trapped in the crystal by the people of Atlantis. This eventually gave rise to the legend of Cronos, father of the Greek gods.
The Master retreats to Dr. Percival’s office where he reinforces his hypnotic control. After working out some calculations, the Master pretends to be the Brigadier to lure Benton out of the lab where he is standing guard. Suspecting the ruse, Benton leaves but doubles back to get the drop on the Master. However, the Master knocks Benton out and reactivates the machine. As it ramps up, a man from Atlantis begins to appear next to the crystal.
The man is Krasis, high priest of Poseidon in Atlantis and is rather put out at the Master's cavalier attitude towards being able to control Kronos. Benton comes to and rushes out to warn the Doctor. The Master lets him go, being more interested in the medallion Krasis gives him when speaking of Kronos. Realizing that the medallion has information imbedded in it, the Master begins to encode that into his machine.
Benton warns everyone as they are outside, loading Hyde on to an ambulance to be taken away. The Brigadier, Benton and Dr. Ingram rush forward to stop him just as the Master reactivates the machine. The Doctor notices that Hyde is regressing back to his normal age while the Brigadier, Benton and Ingram are now running in slow motion. The Doctor runs up and pulls each of them back to the ambulance, out of the bubble of the machine where they snap back to normal time.
Inside the lab, Kronos is released from the crystal and flies about as a glowing humanoid-birdlike creature. It consumes Dr. Percival but is unable to escape the lab. The Master is able to hold off Kronos by using the medallion, which it seems to fear. He steadily powers down the machine and Kronos is sucked back into the crystal. Using this new information, the Master reprograms the machine to allow him to bring other small objects from outside of time.
Unable to get to the lab, the Doctor orders the Brigadier to bring up his TARDIS, to which the Brigadier orders Captain Yates to do. To buy time, the Doctor constructs a device from refuse that interferes with the time bubble the Master is creating. This causes the crystal to power up again but the Master sends a surge of energy which destroys the device.
Aware that the Doctor is having his TARDIS brought up, the Master brings forward things from the past to slow Captain Yates' convoy down. First an Arthurian knight and then a squad of Roundheads. Yates radios about the distractions and the Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier ride out to grab the TARDIS directly. Seeing this, the Master pulls forward a V-1 rocket which bombs Yates' convoy. Yates and his men survive but their trucks are damaged and the TARDIS lands on its side in a pit. Yates and his men begin to haul it upright again while the Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier assess the damage.
The Master makes preparations to leave for Atlantis in his TARDIS, telling Krasis to wait inside. This activation sends a signal to the Doctor's original detector device and he and Jo decide to try and trap the Master within the Doctor's own TARDIS. The Brigadier takes the rest of the men and takes them back to the college.
As the Master grabs the last bit of equipment, he notices the Brigadier and his men preparing to storm the building. The Master activates the device and the Brigadier and his men are caught in a frozen bubble. Just as he is about to leave, Dr. Ingram, Hyde and Benton get the drop on the Master. He manages to throw Hyde in Benton's path, dash into his TARDIS and take off. Ingram and Hyde activate the remaining equipment to at least unfreeze the Brigadier and his men but something goes wrong and instead of them being unfrozen, Benton is age reversed into a baby.
As the Master takes off, Krasis points out the Doctor's TARDIS. The Doctor had made a slight mistake and the two TARDISs are now situated inside each other. The Doctor communicates to the Master via the scanner but the Master turns the sound off. The Doctor tries another way but the Master scrambles the signal. With no other alternative, the Doctor comes out of the TARDIS to try and warn the Master. The Master ignores him and instead extracts Kronos from the crystal. Kronos envelops the Doctor, who disappears. The Master then pushes Kronos back into the crystal.
He informs Jo that the Doctor has been cast into the time vortex and he then disengages his TARDIS from the Doctor's. Jo passes out briefly only to hear the voice of the Doctor. He tells her that the TARDIS has linked with him and can bring him back. He instructs her to pull a lever on the control panel and he materializes within the TARDIS.
The Master arrives in Atlantis as King Dalios is holding court. The Master emerges and claims to be a messenger from the gods with Krasis supporting him. Dalios takes the Master back to his private chambers to question him. The Master attempts to hypnotize him but Dalios is unaffected and laughingly dismisses the Master as a trickster. The Master is further shocked to see the Doctor and Jo being escorted to the king, having been arrested by the guards upon landing next to the Master's TARDIS.
Dalios takes to the Doctor immediately, perceiving his honesty. He sends Jo to the company of his wife, Queen Galleia. Galleia accepts Jo and has her change to more customary attire. She then sends her handmaiden to summon the Master, whom she is attracted to. After the Master arrives, Jo and the handmaiden eavesdrop on their conversation.
The Master convinces Galleia that he should get the crystal and allow her to assume power, taking over from her husband. He also promises to stay and rule by her side. She tells him that while Krasis has a key to the vault, the crystal is also guarded by a monster. King Dalios informs the Doctor that this monster was a friend of his but was transformed into a minotaur. The Master and Galleia devise a plan to send the acolyte Hippias in as a distraction.
The handmaiden, smitten with Hippias, and agrees to help Jo warn him. They follow Hippias in the dark as he approaches the vault where the crystal is held. Jo goes to warn him but Krasis grabs her and shoves her into the vault. The handmaiden runs back and tells the Doctor who knocks Krasis out of the way and runs into the vault.
The Minotaur moves to attack Jo but Hippias attacks it. However, the Minotaur kills Hippias and resumes its attack on Jo. The Doctor however draws its attention and lures it into a wall, knocking the creature out. In the center of the vault, they find the original crystal and go to warn the king. But when they emerge, they find that the Master and Galleia have performed a coup and taken over. The Doctor and Jo are sent to the dungeon.
In the dungeon, the Doctor comforts Jo with a story of his youth when King Dalios is brought in. He resists and the guard knocks him to the floor. Dalios warns the Doctor of visions he has had of Atlantis being destroyed before he dies.
In the morning the Doctor and Jo are brought before the Master and Galleia to be executed. The Doctor asks where most of the council is and if they have been killed like Dalios. Galleia is shocked to learn that Dallios was killed and accuses the Master of betraying her as he had promised that he would be allowed to live. The Master then orders Krasis to activate the machine, releasing Kronos who begins to destroy Atlantis.
The Master grabs the original crystal and runs for his TARDIS. Jo manages to get herself free and jumps on his back. He drags her into his TARDIS and disappears. Galleia frees the Doctor and the Doctor runs to his TARDIS to chase them down while Atlantis crumbles. In the time vortex, he contacts the Master and threatens to conduct a time ram, the merging of their two TARDISs to stop him. The Master doesn't believe he will do it as long as Jo is there but Jo grabs the controls and forces the merger when the Doctor hesitates.
The Doctor and Jo wake to find themselves on the edge of reality. Kronos appears to them as a woman as the time ram destroyed the crystal and freeing her. In exchange, she offers them whatever they want. The Doctor opts to return to Earth with Jo and the TARDIS. Kronos agrees and promises to keep the Master where he will be tormented for eternity. The Master begs mercy and the Doctor asks for him to be freed to the Doctor's custody. Kronos agrees but the Master shakes the Doctor lose and flees in his TARDIS. Kronos refuses to stop him as the Doctor had asked for him to be freed to the Doctor.
The Doctor returns to the lab just as Dr. Ingram and Hyde are finishing repairs to the machine. They manage to free the Brigadier and his men from the bubble as well as return Sargent Benton to his normal self. But without the crystal to stabilize it, the machine is destroyed.
Analysis
If I had to pick a single word to describe this story, I think I would pick "meandering". It's not to the point of being bad, in fact in many ways the story is fairly entertaining, but it lacks focus and just seems to drift from point to point without much thought to its direction.
Although filled with rather obvious padding, the first four episodes are a fairly direct line of adventure with the Master fooling around in his lab and the Doctor and UNIT trying to breach it. It's actually a reverse base-under-siege story which is somewhat refreshing. There is good interaction between the Doctor and the various UNIT personnel and although peppered with a bit of silliness here and there, it slowly progresses towards an ultimate breach.
The last two episodes leave something to be desired. None of the events in Atlantis make much sense and what little plot there is there seems rushed and poorly developed. Everything in the first four episodes is banished as it just becomes a race for the original crystal which is something you think the Master should have been aware of from the beginning. The intrigue of court politics and battles with mythological beasts is both uninteresting and unengaging.
From an emotional standpoint, this is one of the Third Doctor's best stories. His intimate moment about his childhood in Episode Six is still seen as one of his best moments. He also doesn't go either over-the-top or off-the-handle with the Brigadier as he so often does in other UNIT stories. He has a nice rapport with Jo and seems to have fully developed into a fatherly, caring figure for her. It is rather telling that the Master is correct and that the Doctor is unwilling to complete the time ram because he doesn't want to hurt Jo. There's also very little martial arts from the Doctor which is a nice change of pace, forcing him to think his way out of problems rather than forcing the issue.
Again, from an emotional standpoint, this was quite a good story for Jo. She does very little otherwise but as this is less of an action story, that sort of fits. She is also shown as less dumb than in other stories, needing to ask questions for the audience purposes but also being a bit more intuitive about the answers. There are at least a couple of instances where she gets the answer before other "smarter" people and the Doctor's pleasure at her understanding is quite obvious. Jo is just very pleasant in this story, although I'm not a fan of her yellow go-go boots but you can't have everything.
Most of the rest of the regular cast hits their normal notes. The Brigadier plays dumb and is interested in shooting things, Yates does his "aw shucks" routine and Benton is the loveable doofus. I prefer it when the Brigadier is much more intelligent, as shown in Season 7 stories, but by this point its a pretty standard format for the Brig to be more interested in blowing things up and you just get used to it.
The guest cast of this story left a lot to be desired. Ingram and Hyde are very shallow characters with Ingram being the standard middle-aged white male view of a feminist (man-hater) while Hyde is a late-style hippie. Although, as shallow as their characters are, they are played well. The same cannot be said for nearly all of the Atlantean cast. Both Hippias and Galleia are extremely wooden in their delivery and attempts to flesh them out or give them the remotest sense of character just fall flat on their face. Dallius and Krasis are played better by their actors but they are also dropped after about one episode. Krasis is the assistant in Episode Four but aside from a couple of menial tasks, he is forgotten about. Similarly, Dallius refutes the Master while becoming friendly with the Doctor in Episode Five but then dies early in Episode Six. They are just not given enough to work with to make a stronger impression.
I do like the Master in this story, though he does indulge in a bit of over-the-top-ness. For once, he has a plan that actually works. He successfully manages to unlock Kronos from its prison and manages to control it through the use of the medallion. He also manages to get the original crystal as well as defeat the Doctor twice. It is only Jo's push of his TARDIS into the Doctor's and the resultant Deus Ex Machina that defeats him. Had the TARDIS not seen fit to rescue the Doctor in Episode Five or Kronos not been freed and grateful for it at the end of Episode Six, the Master would have triumphed.
And then there is Kronos. I don't know who came up with the design for Kronos but I'm not sure a dumber one could have been imagined. Greek myth has Cronos as a humanoid titan from whom the Greek gods came. At no point does that inspire the thought of a radioactive, humanoid pigeon. I also don't care for how the freeing of Kronos by destroying the crystal at the end is the magic solution. Everything given about Kronos to that point is that Kronos is a destroyer, feasting upon time. It consumes everything it comes in contact with and yet we are to believe that it was actually a benevolent creature, willing to live peacefully in the voids between time? If that is the case, why was it trapped in the crystal and why did it manifest as a glow-in-the-dark chicken? Something more humanoid and forced to do the Master's bidding because of the medallion would have made so much more sense in the overall context of the story.
From a production standpoint, this isn't a bad story. There was some nice location footage and enough background detail to make it appear that it wasn't completely on a stage. I didn't even mind the bowls used to decorate the TARDIS, though that was a touch jarring when first observed. The overall direction was a bit pedestrian as a few shots seemed badly framed and others did nothing to catch the eye.
The other point that was jarring to me were the moments of silliness that kept cropping up throughout the story. I've already mentioned Kronos but even beyond that there were wild swings in mood. You open the story with this dream the Doctor has of doom and destruction and yet later Bessie zooms off like Benny Hill or the Munsters. The Master poses a dire threat but the Doctor builds a device to thwart him out of junk and makes a joke about tea being the missing ingredient. The Brigadier and his men are frozen in time but we'll make a joke about Benton being turned into a baby. Jo is threatened by a creature yet the Doctor turns into a bullfighter and defeats the monster in the same manner as Bugs Bunny when he faced off against a bull. It's all these little things peppered in where you can't decide if this is supposed to be a dramatic, tension-filled story or a comedy romp. It creates emotional whiplash and satisfies neither side.
Overall, I'm not going to say that this is bad but neither is it particularly good. There are good moments and even with the obvious padding, the success of the Master and the rapport between him and the Doctor draw you in. I just wish this story could have decided what it wanted to be. Once that is down, the rest of it would have popped into place with greater ease. It's not the horrible dreck that I've heard some folks try to make it out to be, but neither is it something I would gravitate towards. I certainly would not select it as something to introduce a newbie to the Third Doctor era as their confusion would probably only irritate them beyond what a regular fan would take.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
I'm a little sad to be posting this. Although I have three stories remaining for me to cover, this is the last of the classic era stories that I have not seen. When I first started this, I'm sure The Time Monster was not the story that I would have picked to finish on, but things just always seem to divert to other stories. My preference for watching four-part stories or longer stories from the black and white era did keep pushing this one further and further down the list. But now the list is empty and here we are.
My expectations for this story are low. Boring is the word I've heard most often to describe it but that's a matter of preference. Of course, it's also a Barry Letts and Robert Sloman script and that gives me pause. I really liked The Green Death but I think my patience for The Dæmons was lower than the standard Doctor Who fan so those balance each other out. I don't think I minded Planet of the Spiders that much the first time I watched it but I need to reserve judgment until I go for the re-watch. So we shall just have to see if this either lives down to its reputation or if I am pleasantly surprised.
Plot Summary
The Doctor wakes from a nightmare where there were a great number of natural disasters and the Master taking command of the Earth using a three-pronged crystal. Unsettled by this dream, he ask Jo to look for any news of recent earthquakes or volcanoes. Jo scoffs a bit as she had read him a news article on such activity happening in Greece only yesterday. He again doesn't pay much attention until Jo notes that the site was in the vicinity where archaeologists believe that the island that inspired Atlantis was. Upon hearing that, the Doctor alerts the Brigadier, though the Brigadier notes that UNIT is already on high alert looking for the Master.
The Brigadier prepares to leave for a meeting at a university near Cambridge to observe experiments being done with time and the transport of matter. The Doctor begs off, wanting to work on looking for the Master so the Brigadier pulls Sargent Benton in. At the university, the experiments are being done by the Master, who is going under the pseudonym Professor Thascalos. He prepares to meet with the observing delegation and leaves the equipment to his two colleagues: Dr. Ingram and Stuart Hyde. While the Master is hypnotizing Dr. Percival, the head of the department who has become suspicious of the Master, Ingram and Hyde conduct a test run of the equipment. They successfully transport an object from one terminal to the other but cause a strange phenomena with time. This phenomena causes a window washer to fall off his ladder though he is not killed.
The tests register on a detector that the Doctor has managed to put together. However, the range is too broad to hone in on the signal. The Doctor and Jo get into Bessie and drive around in the range zone, hoping for another signal that will allow them to locate the Master.
Though he is displeased by Ingram and Hyde's experiments without him, the Master plays it off. Seeing that UNIT has come along on the inspection, the Master sends Ingram off to meet them while he tinkers with the equipment. When they arrive after lunch for the experiment, the Master has donned a radiation suit to hide his appearance from the Brigadier. The Master activates the equipment, alerting the Doctor to his location. The Doctor and Jo race to the college while the Master throws the equipment into overdrive, calling out for the appearance of Kronos.
Ingram rushes to shut down the machine after Hyde collapses. The Master rushes out of the room as the Doctor rushes in, having noticed that time has slowed down outside the room. They manage to deactivate the machine but find that Hyde has aged from his twenties to his eighties in only a few minutes.
After leaving Hyde in the care of Jo, the Doctor and Ingram return to the lab to investigate the equipment. The Brigadier returns to a makeshift headquarters where he takes command of the place, requests that additional munitions be brought up and that all non-essential personnel leave the college. In the lab, the Doctor examines the equipment and discovers the Master’s TARDIS. He also examines the crystal but believes it’s only a temporal projection of the real crystal. The Doctor explains to Ingram that Kronos, as called for by the Master, is a creature known as a cronovore and was trapped in the crystal by the people of Atlantis. This eventually gave rise to the legend of Cronos, father of the Greek gods.
The Master retreats to Dr. Percival’s office where he reinforces his hypnotic control. After working out some calculations, the Master pretends to be the Brigadier to lure Benton out of the lab where he is standing guard. Suspecting the ruse, Benton leaves but doubles back to get the drop on the Master. However, the Master knocks Benton out and reactivates the machine. As it ramps up, a man from Atlantis begins to appear next to the crystal.
The man is Krasis, high priest of Poseidon in Atlantis and is rather put out at the Master's cavalier attitude towards being able to control Kronos. Benton comes to and rushes out to warn the Doctor. The Master lets him go, being more interested in the medallion Krasis gives him when speaking of Kronos. Realizing that the medallion has information imbedded in it, the Master begins to encode that into his machine.
Benton warns everyone as they are outside, loading Hyde on to an ambulance to be taken away. The Brigadier, Benton and Dr. Ingram rush forward to stop him just as the Master reactivates the machine. The Doctor notices that Hyde is regressing back to his normal age while the Brigadier, Benton and Ingram are now running in slow motion. The Doctor runs up and pulls each of them back to the ambulance, out of the bubble of the machine where they snap back to normal time.
Inside the lab, Kronos is released from the crystal and flies about as a glowing humanoid-birdlike creature. It consumes Dr. Percival but is unable to escape the lab. The Master is able to hold off Kronos by using the medallion, which it seems to fear. He steadily powers down the machine and Kronos is sucked back into the crystal. Using this new information, the Master reprograms the machine to allow him to bring other small objects from outside of time.
Unable to get to the lab, the Doctor orders the Brigadier to bring up his TARDIS, to which the Brigadier orders Captain Yates to do. To buy time, the Doctor constructs a device from refuse that interferes with the time bubble the Master is creating. This causes the crystal to power up again but the Master sends a surge of energy which destroys the device.
Aware that the Doctor is having his TARDIS brought up, the Master brings forward things from the past to slow Captain Yates' convoy down. First an Arthurian knight and then a squad of Roundheads. Yates radios about the distractions and the Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier ride out to grab the TARDIS directly. Seeing this, the Master pulls forward a V-1 rocket which bombs Yates' convoy. Yates and his men survive but their trucks are damaged and the TARDIS lands on its side in a pit. Yates and his men begin to haul it upright again while the Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier assess the damage.
The Master makes preparations to leave for Atlantis in his TARDIS, telling Krasis to wait inside. This activation sends a signal to the Doctor's original detector device and he and Jo decide to try and trap the Master within the Doctor's own TARDIS. The Brigadier takes the rest of the men and takes them back to the college.
As the Master grabs the last bit of equipment, he notices the Brigadier and his men preparing to storm the building. The Master activates the device and the Brigadier and his men are caught in a frozen bubble. Just as he is about to leave, Dr. Ingram, Hyde and Benton get the drop on the Master. He manages to throw Hyde in Benton's path, dash into his TARDIS and take off. Ingram and Hyde activate the remaining equipment to at least unfreeze the Brigadier and his men but something goes wrong and instead of them being unfrozen, Benton is age reversed into a baby.
As the Master takes off, Krasis points out the Doctor's TARDIS. The Doctor had made a slight mistake and the two TARDISs are now situated inside each other. The Doctor communicates to the Master via the scanner but the Master turns the sound off. The Doctor tries another way but the Master scrambles the signal. With no other alternative, the Doctor comes out of the TARDIS to try and warn the Master. The Master ignores him and instead extracts Kronos from the crystal. Kronos envelops the Doctor, who disappears. The Master then pushes Kronos back into the crystal.
He informs Jo that the Doctor has been cast into the time vortex and he then disengages his TARDIS from the Doctor's. Jo passes out briefly only to hear the voice of the Doctor. He tells her that the TARDIS has linked with him and can bring him back. He instructs her to pull a lever on the control panel and he materializes within the TARDIS.
The Master arrives in Atlantis as King Dalios is holding court. The Master emerges and claims to be a messenger from the gods with Krasis supporting him. Dalios takes the Master back to his private chambers to question him. The Master attempts to hypnotize him but Dalios is unaffected and laughingly dismisses the Master as a trickster. The Master is further shocked to see the Doctor and Jo being escorted to the king, having been arrested by the guards upon landing next to the Master's TARDIS.
Dalios takes to the Doctor immediately, perceiving his honesty. He sends Jo to the company of his wife, Queen Galleia. Galleia accepts Jo and has her change to more customary attire. She then sends her handmaiden to summon the Master, whom she is attracted to. After the Master arrives, Jo and the handmaiden eavesdrop on their conversation.
The Master convinces Galleia that he should get the crystal and allow her to assume power, taking over from her husband. He also promises to stay and rule by her side. She tells him that while Krasis has a key to the vault, the crystal is also guarded by a monster. King Dalios informs the Doctor that this monster was a friend of his but was transformed into a minotaur. The Master and Galleia devise a plan to send the acolyte Hippias in as a distraction.
The handmaiden, smitten with Hippias, and agrees to help Jo warn him. They follow Hippias in the dark as he approaches the vault where the crystal is held. Jo goes to warn him but Krasis grabs her and shoves her into the vault. The handmaiden runs back and tells the Doctor who knocks Krasis out of the way and runs into the vault.
The Minotaur moves to attack Jo but Hippias attacks it. However, the Minotaur kills Hippias and resumes its attack on Jo. The Doctor however draws its attention and lures it into a wall, knocking the creature out. In the center of the vault, they find the original crystal and go to warn the king. But when they emerge, they find that the Master and Galleia have performed a coup and taken over. The Doctor and Jo are sent to the dungeon.
In the dungeon, the Doctor comforts Jo with a story of his youth when King Dalios is brought in. He resists and the guard knocks him to the floor. Dalios warns the Doctor of visions he has had of Atlantis being destroyed before he dies.
In the morning the Doctor and Jo are brought before the Master and Galleia to be executed. The Doctor asks where most of the council is and if they have been killed like Dalios. Galleia is shocked to learn that Dallios was killed and accuses the Master of betraying her as he had promised that he would be allowed to live. The Master then orders Krasis to activate the machine, releasing Kronos who begins to destroy Atlantis.
The Master grabs the original crystal and runs for his TARDIS. Jo manages to get herself free and jumps on his back. He drags her into his TARDIS and disappears. Galleia frees the Doctor and the Doctor runs to his TARDIS to chase them down while Atlantis crumbles. In the time vortex, he contacts the Master and threatens to conduct a time ram, the merging of their two TARDISs to stop him. The Master doesn't believe he will do it as long as Jo is there but Jo grabs the controls and forces the merger when the Doctor hesitates.
The Doctor and Jo wake to find themselves on the edge of reality. Kronos appears to them as a woman as the time ram destroyed the crystal and freeing her. In exchange, she offers them whatever they want. The Doctor opts to return to Earth with Jo and the TARDIS. Kronos agrees and promises to keep the Master where he will be tormented for eternity. The Master begs mercy and the Doctor asks for him to be freed to the Doctor's custody. Kronos agrees but the Master shakes the Doctor lose and flees in his TARDIS. Kronos refuses to stop him as the Doctor had asked for him to be freed to the Doctor.
The Doctor returns to the lab just as Dr. Ingram and Hyde are finishing repairs to the machine. They manage to free the Brigadier and his men from the bubble as well as return Sargent Benton to his normal self. But without the crystal to stabilize it, the machine is destroyed.
Analysis
If I had to pick a single word to describe this story, I think I would pick "meandering". It's not to the point of being bad, in fact in many ways the story is fairly entertaining, but it lacks focus and just seems to drift from point to point without much thought to its direction.
Although filled with rather obvious padding, the first four episodes are a fairly direct line of adventure with the Master fooling around in his lab and the Doctor and UNIT trying to breach it. It's actually a reverse base-under-siege story which is somewhat refreshing. There is good interaction between the Doctor and the various UNIT personnel and although peppered with a bit of silliness here and there, it slowly progresses towards an ultimate breach.
The last two episodes leave something to be desired. None of the events in Atlantis make much sense and what little plot there is there seems rushed and poorly developed. Everything in the first four episodes is banished as it just becomes a race for the original crystal which is something you think the Master should have been aware of from the beginning. The intrigue of court politics and battles with mythological beasts is both uninteresting and unengaging.
From an emotional standpoint, this is one of the Third Doctor's best stories. His intimate moment about his childhood in Episode Six is still seen as one of his best moments. He also doesn't go either over-the-top or off-the-handle with the Brigadier as he so often does in other UNIT stories. He has a nice rapport with Jo and seems to have fully developed into a fatherly, caring figure for her. It is rather telling that the Master is correct and that the Doctor is unwilling to complete the time ram because he doesn't want to hurt Jo. There's also very little martial arts from the Doctor which is a nice change of pace, forcing him to think his way out of problems rather than forcing the issue.
Again, from an emotional standpoint, this was quite a good story for Jo. She does very little otherwise but as this is less of an action story, that sort of fits. She is also shown as less dumb than in other stories, needing to ask questions for the audience purposes but also being a bit more intuitive about the answers. There are at least a couple of instances where she gets the answer before other "smarter" people and the Doctor's pleasure at her understanding is quite obvious. Jo is just very pleasant in this story, although I'm not a fan of her yellow go-go boots but you can't have everything.
Most of the rest of the regular cast hits their normal notes. The Brigadier plays dumb and is interested in shooting things, Yates does his "aw shucks" routine and Benton is the loveable doofus. I prefer it when the Brigadier is much more intelligent, as shown in Season 7 stories, but by this point its a pretty standard format for the Brig to be more interested in blowing things up and you just get used to it.
The guest cast of this story left a lot to be desired. Ingram and Hyde are very shallow characters with Ingram being the standard middle-aged white male view of a feminist (man-hater) while Hyde is a late-style hippie. Although, as shallow as their characters are, they are played well. The same cannot be said for nearly all of the Atlantean cast. Both Hippias and Galleia are extremely wooden in their delivery and attempts to flesh them out or give them the remotest sense of character just fall flat on their face. Dallius and Krasis are played better by their actors but they are also dropped after about one episode. Krasis is the assistant in Episode Four but aside from a couple of menial tasks, he is forgotten about. Similarly, Dallius refutes the Master while becoming friendly with the Doctor in Episode Five but then dies early in Episode Six. They are just not given enough to work with to make a stronger impression.
I do like the Master in this story, though he does indulge in a bit of over-the-top-ness. For once, he has a plan that actually works. He successfully manages to unlock Kronos from its prison and manages to control it through the use of the medallion. He also manages to get the original crystal as well as defeat the Doctor twice. It is only Jo's push of his TARDIS into the Doctor's and the resultant Deus Ex Machina that defeats him. Had the TARDIS not seen fit to rescue the Doctor in Episode Five or Kronos not been freed and grateful for it at the end of Episode Six, the Master would have triumphed.
And then there is Kronos. I don't know who came up with the design for Kronos but I'm not sure a dumber one could have been imagined. Greek myth has Cronos as a humanoid titan from whom the Greek gods came. At no point does that inspire the thought of a radioactive, humanoid pigeon. I also don't care for how the freeing of Kronos by destroying the crystal at the end is the magic solution. Everything given about Kronos to that point is that Kronos is a destroyer, feasting upon time. It consumes everything it comes in contact with and yet we are to believe that it was actually a benevolent creature, willing to live peacefully in the voids between time? If that is the case, why was it trapped in the crystal and why did it manifest as a glow-in-the-dark chicken? Something more humanoid and forced to do the Master's bidding because of the medallion would have made so much more sense in the overall context of the story.
From a production standpoint, this isn't a bad story. There was some nice location footage and enough background detail to make it appear that it wasn't completely on a stage. I didn't even mind the bowls used to decorate the TARDIS, though that was a touch jarring when first observed. The overall direction was a bit pedestrian as a few shots seemed badly framed and others did nothing to catch the eye.
The other point that was jarring to me were the moments of silliness that kept cropping up throughout the story. I've already mentioned Kronos but even beyond that there were wild swings in mood. You open the story with this dream the Doctor has of doom and destruction and yet later Bessie zooms off like Benny Hill or the Munsters. The Master poses a dire threat but the Doctor builds a device to thwart him out of junk and makes a joke about tea being the missing ingredient. The Brigadier and his men are frozen in time but we'll make a joke about Benton being turned into a baby. Jo is threatened by a creature yet the Doctor turns into a bullfighter and defeats the monster in the same manner as Bugs Bunny when he faced off against a bull. It's all these little things peppered in where you can't decide if this is supposed to be a dramatic, tension-filled story or a comedy romp. It creates emotional whiplash and satisfies neither side.
Overall, I'm not going to say that this is bad but neither is it particularly good. There are good moments and even with the obvious padding, the success of the Master and the rapport between him and the Doctor draw you in. I just wish this story could have decided what it wanted to be. Once that is down, the rest of it would have popped into place with greater ease. It's not the horrible dreck that I've heard some folks try to make it out to be, but neither is it something I would gravitate towards. I certainly would not select it as something to introduce a newbie to the Third Doctor era as their confusion would probably only irritate them beyond what a regular fan would take.
Overall personal score: 2.5 out of 5
Tuesday, October 3, 2017
Terror of the Zygons
You've got to come out on to the balcony sometime and wave a tentacle.
Like much of the Philip Hinchcliff era, Terror of the Zygons is based on earlier material, in this case: Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It was originally slated to close Season 12, which is very apparent in the goodbye scene with Harry and the lingering acceptance of Sarah to continue with the Doctor, but problems behind the scenes pushed it back to the start of Season 13. It also is somewhat notable for being the last story released to DVD (baring any missing episode discoveries) supposedly just to screw with someone the 2Entertian execs didn't like and had said that this was his favorite story.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Sarah and Harry land in Scotland after being summoned by the Brigadier. They land in the moors and are given a lift to UNIT headquarters by the local laird, the Duke of Forgill. The Brigadier informs them of several oil rigs that have been destroyed around the area in perfect weather with only a strange signal captured over the radio. The Doctor is a bit put out over being summoned for such a trivial matter but agrees to help. The three split up with the Doctor and the Brigadier heading to see the oil drilling company manager, Sarah to interview the locals and Harry to explore the seashore looking for other evidence.
Sarah interviews the local innkeeper, Angus, who warns Sarah of strange things on the moors and also claims to have a bit of "the second sight." Meanwhile, Harry spots a man stumbling around the shore and rushes to him. The man survived the destruction of the latest oil rig and tells Harry what happened. While talking, they are spotted by a bearded man in Scottish dress who produces a rifle and shoots them both. The rig survivor is killed but the second bullet glances Harry's head, only wounding him.
The Doctor and the Brigadier return from speaking with Mr. Huckle, the oil company manager who told them of a fourth attack. They also find a section of concrete with large holes poked into it. They receive a call from the hospital and drive over there with Sarah to check on Harry who is sedated. Knowing that he will recover, the Doctor and the Brigadier return to the inn while Sarah stays at the hospital.
Back at the inn, the Doctor makes a plaster mold of the holes to reveal two very large teeth punctures. They receive a call from Sarah stating that Harry seems to be coming around and is eager to tell them something, although he is still too groggy to articulate it. Sarah is suddenly attacked from behind by a Zygon. Overhearing her scream, the Doctor and Sargent Benton head over to the hospital.
Once at the hospital, they find both Sarah and Harry missing with the nurse suggesting that Harry escaped through the open window. The Doctor sends Benton out to search the grounds while he looks through the building. He finds Sarah in a decompression room and the Zygon who attacked her seals them in and activates the chamber. The Doctor hypnotizes Sarah into a minimal breathing state to preserve air while he goes into a trance himself. Benton and another soldier return to the hospital, find the Doctor and Sarah and pump air back into the chamber. The Doctor then brings himself and Sarah out of their trances.
Mr. Huckle arrives at the inn and finds the Brigadier and his staff passed out due to gas. When the Doctor, Sarah and Benton return, they rouse the Brigadier and the rest of the village, suspecting that they were gassed to hide the movement of something. Huckle produces an alien object that was recovered from the latest oil rig destruction and the Doctor recognizes it as something to lure the creature that is attacking.
The Zygon leader, Broton, observes all this through a camera hidden in the inn and sends one of his men to recover it, having morphed into the form of Harry. Benton calls the Brigadier and the Doctor away, having found one of the soldiers crushed to death outside the village, leaving Sarah alone. The fake Harry enters, takes the summoner and runs off. Sarah runs after him and finds him hiding in a barn. He attacks her with a pitchfork but he falls off while attacking her and is impaled on a hayrack. Broton, detecting the death of the Zygon, vaporizes the body remotely, leaving Sarah unable to show the Doctor the alien's true form.
Fearing discovery, Broton activates the summoner and sends the large mechanical plesiosaur-like creature towards the village. Suspecting what's happening, the Doctor grabs the device and drives out on to the moors. His car breaks down and he runs on foot, the creature steadily catching up to him. The Doctor dives out of the way as the creature lunges at him and the lunge knocks the tracker from the Doctor's hand. Thinking that the Doctor has been killed, Broton recalls the creature. Having triangulated the creature's origin to Loch Ness, Sarah and the Brigadier ride out after the Doctor. They find him walking the moors and they drive onward to the castle of the Duke of Forgill.
While they are away, Benton runs a search of the inn looking for the bugging devices. Broton becomes worried and orders that the camera in the eye of a mounted deer head be removed. After Benton leaves, Angus notices the camera and works to try and dismount the head, which was a gift from the Duke of Forgill. A Zygon in the form of the nurse, Sister Lamont, arrives, kills Angus and takes the camera. Benton hears Angus cry out and rushes to the scene to find Angus dead. His men fan out and see the creature fleeing through the woods. They open fire, wounding it. The wounded Zygon transforms back into Sister Lamont, knocks out a soldier and steals his jeep.
At the Duke of Forgill's castle the Doctor, the Brigadier and Sarah fill in the Duke with they Doctor's theory that the creature is a cyborg creature which allows the Zygons to control it. The Doctor suspects the aliens crashed hundreds of years ago and are making moves know as the oil drilling threatens to expose them. The Duke is skeptical but allows Sarah to stay behind and research his books while the Brigadier and the Doctor head back to the inn after receiving a call from Benton about the attack.
Sarah reaches up for a high book and accidentally triggers a door to a hidden passage. She sneaks down and discovers the alien ship with holding slots where the real Duke of Forgill, Sister Lamont and the Caber are in suspended animation. She also discovers Harry in a holding cell. Sarah rescues him, though they are forced to hide when the Zygons return helping a wounded comrade disguised as Sister Lamont.
The Doctor and the Brigadier learn of what happened from Benton and the Doctor realizes that the Duke has been taken over as well. They return to the castle just as Sarah and Harry emerge from the hidden passage. The Doctor heads down but is captured by Broton and taken into the ship. Broton warns off the Brigadier but the Brigadier gives his own warning.
They leave the castle and the Brigadier has depth charges launched into the loch, alarming Broton. Broton then orders the ship to launch and it rises out of the loch and into the sky. It flies south and lands in an abandoned quarry outside of London, jamming all radar instruments to aid its camouflage. Despite this, the Brigadier orders Benton to keep an ear out for any signals while Sarah and Harry comb over the Duke's library for any information.
The Doctor is placed in a cell and learns that the ship has cut it's power to half to avoid detection. He observes Broton resume the form of the Duke and head out on a mission to implement the next phase of the plan, which will terraform the Earth over the next several centuries before the Zygon refugee fleet arrives. The Doctor then forms a short link between two terminals using himself as the bridge. This sends out signal from the ship but also electrocutes himself.
Benton picks up the signal, triangulates it, informs the Brigadier and the whole group drives down from the inn to the ship. The Zygons manages to break into the Doctor's cell but think he has been killed by the electric shock. He revives after they leave and sneaks through the ship, freeing the real Duke, the Caber and Sister Lamont. The Doctor then sets off an alarm to pull the Zygons off the bridge and the group barricades themselves in there. Once on the bridge, the Doctor sets the self destruct and they flee the ship in the escape hatch. They run away just as the Brigadier's column arrives and they all dive for cover as the ship explodes, killing all the Zygons except Broton.
They receive word that the Loch Ness creature, called by the Zygons a Skarasen, has been swimming down from the sea and is now moving up the Thames. Pooling their information, they deduce that Broton is heading to a major energy conference disguised as the Duke and will attack the multitude of dignitaries there. The Doctor and UNIT head to the conference to stop him.
The Doctor and Sarah discover Broton planting the luring device for the Skarasen in a storage room. Broton attacks the Doctor and Sarah runs for the Brigadier. The Brigadier and two of his men enter. Broton turns his attack towards one of them but the Brigadier shoots Broton down. The Doctor scours the room and finds the luring device. He runs to a balcony just as the Skarasen emerges from the Thames. He throws it out over the river and the beast catches and eats it. With it's summoning device destroyed, the creature drops below the water and swims back up to Scotland.
The entire group returns to Scotland and the Duke helps the Doctor locate the TARDIS in the marshes. He offers Harry, the Brigadier and Sarah a lift back to London but both the Brigadier and Harry decline. Sarah hesitates for a moment, asking if he can get her back to London. The Doctor smiles and assures her he can. The two then enter while the other watch the TARDIS disappear.
Analysis
I had been avoiding this one for a bit as I had this odd feeling that I wasn't going to enjoy it as much as it's reputation stated I would. I'm not sure how I got that in my head because I know I enjoyed it the first time I saw it and this time I enjoyed it just as much. In a way, I had actually forgotten how well filmed and performed the story actually was.
First, all praise and honor to Douglas Camfield who does excellent work here. There is a lot of nice location footage on film and a really good use of lighting and mood to give this story a profound sense of creepiness. It would have been very easy to overexpose the Zygons and make them look rather silly, but this story keeps them as monsters in the dark and it does wonders. Kudos also goes to his work with the Skarasen in keeping it to the minimum of exposure. It could easily have gone into Invasion of the Dinosaurs territory with too much shown of the stop motion. Here you get just enough, leaving the majority of the action to be filled in by the viewer's imagination. It's just good work all around.
The Doctor is very good in this story with a very nice balance of comedy and drama. He shows annoyance at being called in for what seems a trivial matter but then gets very serious when figuring the real threat. When drama and tension are called for, such as the decompression scene, you can feel the tension coming from the Doctor. But at the same time, he's not so grim as to not crack jokes on occasion. His near mocking of Broton is quite funny and deflates the Zygons from the scary monsters they had seemed over the first three episodes to just another batch of aliens the Doctor needs to dispatch. The drama gets you invested but the humor gives you little payoffs while you wait for the overarching story to reach its climax.
Sarah is of course her normal proactive self and actually shows a bit more moxy than the Doctor, given that she is able to sneak on to the Zygon ship and rescue Harry without being caught while the Doctor is caught as soon as he walks into the tunnel. Ultimately it’s a nice balance but Sarah does get some dramatic action here and there and is very enjoyable to watch.
I wish the same could be said for Harry. Harry is his normal, affable self but with being injured halfway through Episode One and the Zygon using his body print killed in Episode Two, Harry is left without much to do. He serves as a small fount of exposition in Episodes Two and Three but just stands around and watches before deciding to stay at the end of Episode Four. It sums the problem the writers clearly had with Harry for most of Season 12 in that he was designed to be an Ian-like man for an older Doctor but the Fourth Doctor was young enough to make him superfluous. Harry really only shines when Sarah is cut off (like in Genesis of the Daleks) but here, Harry is the one who is cut off and he plays the damsel in distress for a short period of time.
The Zygons are pretty good villains with an interesting character trait of taking on the forms of others. However, there were points where they were written oddly. In both Episode Two and Episode Four, there's no good reason why Broton should go on expositionary rants to either Harry or the Doctor. It's useful for the audience but hard to imagine that any character would do such a thing to an enemy. There is also the question as to why they keep Harry and the Doctor alive. The other three prisoners and Harry initially make sense as they are using their body prints to disguise themselves. It could be argued that they intend to go back and give a different Zygon Harry's blueprint and they are keeping him alive for that purpose but what about the Doctor. Broton still thinks the Doctor is human at the start of Episode Four and the launch of the Skarasen attack on the nuclear conference renders the need for subterfuge irrelevant. So why keep the Doctor alive if you don't believe he has useful information or intend to use his body print to make a disguise? It's just one of those things that niggles in the background.
As far as the overall plot goes, the story works fairly well. There is some runaround but mostly in a tension building way. I actually appreciated that the Zygons were susceptible to conventional weapons as that made their dependence on deception more necessary. I also liked how there was a certain amount of paranoia that started to creep in, especially with Sarah and her reaction to Harry. Had this been a six-part story, I would imagine that paranoia would have been a high feature but there just wasn't time to incorporate it further. But as a thriller it does quite well. There are some genuine scare moments and the reveal of the Zygons at the end of Episode One is rather impressive.
What I would have liked developed a bit more is what Broton's ultimate plan was. They way it left off, it seemed as though Broton expected the Skarasen's attack on the nuclear conference to kill or scare enough people to cow the governments of the world into giving their authority to him, allowing him to terraform the planet. However armored the Skarasen was, there are things that would be able to destroy it and unless Broton had a fleet of these things on standby, just one was not going to be enough to subjugate all the peoples of Earth and sheer volume of numbers would have crushed Broton eventually. So there is an element of the story falling apart at the end, but it's still a good ride up to that point.
Overall, there is a reason this is one of the classics. It is well acted, well directed and a pretty good thriller of a tale. There are some small holes here and there and the technology of the day definitely does limit things with the Skarasen (much like the dinosaurs in Invasion of the Dinosaurs) but those are small points compared to the quality of the overall story. It can easily be watched at any time and actually would make a decent story to introduce someone to the Fourth Doctor.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Like much of the Philip Hinchcliff era, Terror of the Zygons is based on earlier material, in this case: Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It was originally slated to close Season 12, which is very apparent in the goodbye scene with Harry and the lingering acceptance of Sarah to continue with the Doctor, but problems behind the scenes pushed it back to the start of Season 13. It also is somewhat notable for being the last story released to DVD (baring any missing episode discoveries) supposedly just to screw with someone the 2Entertian execs didn't like and had said that this was his favorite story.
Plot Summary
The Doctor, Sarah and Harry land in Scotland after being summoned by the Brigadier. They land in the moors and are given a lift to UNIT headquarters by the local laird, the Duke of Forgill. The Brigadier informs them of several oil rigs that have been destroyed around the area in perfect weather with only a strange signal captured over the radio. The Doctor is a bit put out over being summoned for such a trivial matter but agrees to help. The three split up with the Doctor and the Brigadier heading to see the oil drilling company manager, Sarah to interview the locals and Harry to explore the seashore looking for other evidence.
Sarah interviews the local innkeeper, Angus, who warns Sarah of strange things on the moors and also claims to have a bit of "the second sight." Meanwhile, Harry spots a man stumbling around the shore and rushes to him. The man survived the destruction of the latest oil rig and tells Harry what happened. While talking, they are spotted by a bearded man in Scottish dress who produces a rifle and shoots them both. The rig survivor is killed but the second bullet glances Harry's head, only wounding him.
The Doctor and the Brigadier return from speaking with Mr. Huckle, the oil company manager who told them of a fourth attack. They also find a section of concrete with large holes poked into it. They receive a call from the hospital and drive over there with Sarah to check on Harry who is sedated. Knowing that he will recover, the Doctor and the Brigadier return to the inn while Sarah stays at the hospital.
Back at the inn, the Doctor makes a plaster mold of the holes to reveal two very large teeth punctures. They receive a call from Sarah stating that Harry seems to be coming around and is eager to tell them something, although he is still too groggy to articulate it. Sarah is suddenly attacked from behind by a Zygon. Overhearing her scream, the Doctor and Sargent Benton head over to the hospital.
Once at the hospital, they find both Sarah and Harry missing with the nurse suggesting that Harry escaped through the open window. The Doctor sends Benton out to search the grounds while he looks through the building. He finds Sarah in a decompression room and the Zygon who attacked her seals them in and activates the chamber. The Doctor hypnotizes Sarah into a minimal breathing state to preserve air while he goes into a trance himself. Benton and another soldier return to the hospital, find the Doctor and Sarah and pump air back into the chamber. The Doctor then brings himself and Sarah out of their trances.
Mr. Huckle arrives at the inn and finds the Brigadier and his staff passed out due to gas. When the Doctor, Sarah and Benton return, they rouse the Brigadier and the rest of the village, suspecting that they were gassed to hide the movement of something. Huckle produces an alien object that was recovered from the latest oil rig destruction and the Doctor recognizes it as something to lure the creature that is attacking.
The Zygon leader, Broton, observes all this through a camera hidden in the inn and sends one of his men to recover it, having morphed into the form of Harry. Benton calls the Brigadier and the Doctor away, having found one of the soldiers crushed to death outside the village, leaving Sarah alone. The fake Harry enters, takes the summoner and runs off. Sarah runs after him and finds him hiding in a barn. He attacks her with a pitchfork but he falls off while attacking her and is impaled on a hayrack. Broton, detecting the death of the Zygon, vaporizes the body remotely, leaving Sarah unable to show the Doctor the alien's true form.
Fearing discovery, Broton activates the summoner and sends the large mechanical plesiosaur-like creature towards the village. Suspecting what's happening, the Doctor grabs the device and drives out on to the moors. His car breaks down and he runs on foot, the creature steadily catching up to him. The Doctor dives out of the way as the creature lunges at him and the lunge knocks the tracker from the Doctor's hand. Thinking that the Doctor has been killed, Broton recalls the creature. Having triangulated the creature's origin to Loch Ness, Sarah and the Brigadier ride out after the Doctor. They find him walking the moors and they drive onward to the castle of the Duke of Forgill.
While they are away, Benton runs a search of the inn looking for the bugging devices. Broton becomes worried and orders that the camera in the eye of a mounted deer head be removed. After Benton leaves, Angus notices the camera and works to try and dismount the head, which was a gift from the Duke of Forgill. A Zygon in the form of the nurse, Sister Lamont, arrives, kills Angus and takes the camera. Benton hears Angus cry out and rushes to the scene to find Angus dead. His men fan out and see the creature fleeing through the woods. They open fire, wounding it. The wounded Zygon transforms back into Sister Lamont, knocks out a soldier and steals his jeep.
At the Duke of Forgill's castle the Doctor, the Brigadier and Sarah fill in the Duke with they Doctor's theory that the creature is a cyborg creature which allows the Zygons to control it. The Doctor suspects the aliens crashed hundreds of years ago and are making moves know as the oil drilling threatens to expose them. The Duke is skeptical but allows Sarah to stay behind and research his books while the Brigadier and the Doctor head back to the inn after receiving a call from Benton about the attack.
Sarah reaches up for a high book and accidentally triggers a door to a hidden passage. She sneaks down and discovers the alien ship with holding slots where the real Duke of Forgill, Sister Lamont and the Caber are in suspended animation. She also discovers Harry in a holding cell. Sarah rescues him, though they are forced to hide when the Zygons return helping a wounded comrade disguised as Sister Lamont.
The Doctor and the Brigadier learn of what happened from Benton and the Doctor realizes that the Duke has been taken over as well. They return to the castle just as Sarah and Harry emerge from the hidden passage. The Doctor heads down but is captured by Broton and taken into the ship. Broton warns off the Brigadier but the Brigadier gives his own warning.
They leave the castle and the Brigadier has depth charges launched into the loch, alarming Broton. Broton then orders the ship to launch and it rises out of the loch and into the sky. It flies south and lands in an abandoned quarry outside of London, jamming all radar instruments to aid its camouflage. Despite this, the Brigadier orders Benton to keep an ear out for any signals while Sarah and Harry comb over the Duke's library for any information.
The Doctor is placed in a cell and learns that the ship has cut it's power to half to avoid detection. He observes Broton resume the form of the Duke and head out on a mission to implement the next phase of the plan, which will terraform the Earth over the next several centuries before the Zygon refugee fleet arrives. The Doctor then forms a short link between two terminals using himself as the bridge. This sends out signal from the ship but also electrocutes himself.
Benton picks up the signal, triangulates it, informs the Brigadier and the whole group drives down from the inn to the ship. The Zygons manages to break into the Doctor's cell but think he has been killed by the electric shock. He revives after they leave and sneaks through the ship, freeing the real Duke, the Caber and Sister Lamont. The Doctor then sets off an alarm to pull the Zygons off the bridge and the group barricades themselves in there. Once on the bridge, the Doctor sets the self destruct and they flee the ship in the escape hatch. They run away just as the Brigadier's column arrives and they all dive for cover as the ship explodes, killing all the Zygons except Broton.
They receive word that the Loch Ness creature, called by the Zygons a Skarasen, has been swimming down from the sea and is now moving up the Thames. Pooling their information, they deduce that Broton is heading to a major energy conference disguised as the Duke and will attack the multitude of dignitaries there. The Doctor and UNIT head to the conference to stop him.
The Doctor and Sarah discover Broton planting the luring device for the Skarasen in a storage room. Broton attacks the Doctor and Sarah runs for the Brigadier. The Brigadier and two of his men enter. Broton turns his attack towards one of them but the Brigadier shoots Broton down. The Doctor scours the room and finds the luring device. He runs to a balcony just as the Skarasen emerges from the Thames. He throws it out over the river and the beast catches and eats it. With it's summoning device destroyed, the creature drops below the water and swims back up to Scotland.
The entire group returns to Scotland and the Duke helps the Doctor locate the TARDIS in the marshes. He offers Harry, the Brigadier and Sarah a lift back to London but both the Brigadier and Harry decline. Sarah hesitates for a moment, asking if he can get her back to London. The Doctor smiles and assures her he can. The two then enter while the other watch the TARDIS disappear.
Analysis
I had been avoiding this one for a bit as I had this odd feeling that I wasn't going to enjoy it as much as it's reputation stated I would. I'm not sure how I got that in my head because I know I enjoyed it the first time I saw it and this time I enjoyed it just as much. In a way, I had actually forgotten how well filmed and performed the story actually was.
First, all praise and honor to Douglas Camfield who does excellent work here. There is a lot of nice location footage on film and a really good use of lighting and mood to give this story a profound sense of creepiness. It would have been very easy to overexpose the Zygons and make them look rather silly, but this story keeps them as monsters in the dark and it does wonders. Kudos also goes to his work with the Skarasen in keeping it to the minimum of exposure. It could easily have gone into Invasion of the Dinosaurs territory with too much shown of the stop motion. Here you get just enough, leaving the majority of the action to be filled in by the viewer's imagination. It's just good work all around.
The Doctor is very good in this story with a very nice balance of comedy and drama. He shows annoyance at being called in for what seems a trivial matter but then gets very serious when figuring the real threat. When drama and tension are called for, such as the decompression scene, you can feel the tension coming from the Doctor. But at the same time, he's not so grim as to not crack jokes on occasion. His near mocking of Broton is quite funny and deflates the Zygons from the scary monsters they had seemed over the first three episodes to just another batch of aliens the Doctor needs to dispatch. The drama gets you invested but the humor gives you little payoffs while you wait for the overarching story to reach its climax.
Sarah is of course her normal proactive self and actually shows a bit more moxy than the Doctor, given that she is able to sneak on to the Zygon ship and rescue Harry without being caught while the Doctor is caught as soon as he walks into the tunnel. Ultimately it’s a nice balance but Sarah does get some dramatic action here and there and is very enjoyable to watch.
I wish the same could be said for Harry. Harry is his normal, affable self but with being injured halfway through Episode One and the Zygon using his body print killed in Episode Two, Harry is left without much to do. He serves as a small fount of exposition in Episodes Two and Three but just stands around and watches before deciding to stay at the end of Episode Four. It sums the problem the writers clearly had with Harry for most of Season 12 in that he was designed to be an Ian-like man for an older Doctor but the Fourth Doctor was young enough to make him superfluous. Harry really only shines when Sarah is cut off (like in Genesis of the Daleks) but here, Harry is the one who is cut off and he plays the damsel in distress for a short period of time.
The Zygons are pretty good villains with an interesting character trait of taking on the forms of others. However, there were points where they were written oddly. In both Episode Two and Episode Four, there's no good reason why Broton should go on expositionary rants to either Harry or the Doctor. It's useful for the audience but hard to imagine that any character would do such a thing to an enemy. There is also the question as to why they keep Harry and the Doctor alive. The other three prisoners and Harry initially make sense as they are using their body prints to disguise themselves. It could be argued that they intend to go back and give a different Zygon Harry's blueprint and they are keeping him alive for that purpose but what about the Doctor. Broton still thinks the Doctor is human at the start of Episode Four and the launch of the Skarasen attack on the nuclear conference renders the need for subterfuge irrelevant. So why keep the Doctor alive if you don't believe he has useful information or intend to use his body print to make a disguise? It's just one of those things that niggles in the background.
As far as the overall plot goes, the story works fairly well. There is some runaround but mostly in a tension building way. I actually appreciated that the Zygons were susceptible to conventional weapons as that made their dependence on deception more necessary. I also liked how there was a certain amount of paranoia that started to creep in, especially with Sarah and her reaction to Harry. Had this been a six-part story, I would imagine that paranoia would have been a high feature but there just wasn't time to incorporate it further. But as a thriller it does quite well. There are some genuine scare moments and the reveal of the Zygons at the end of Episode One is rather impressive.
What I would have liked developed a bit more is what Broton's ultimate plan was. They way it left off, it seemed as though Broton expected the Skarasen's attack on the nuclear conference to kill or scare enough people to cow the governments of the world into giving their authority to him, allowing him to terraform the planet. However armored the Skarasen was, there are things that would be able to destroy it and unless Broton had a fleet of these things on standby, just one was not going to be enough to subjugate all the peoples of Earth and sheer volume of numbers would have crushed Broton eventually. So there is an element of the story falling apart at the end, but it's still a good ride up to that point.
Overall, there is a reason this is one of the classics. It is well acted, well directed and a pretty good thriller of a tale. There are some small holes here and there and the technology of the day definitely does limit things with the Skarasen (much like the dinosaurs in Invasion of the Dinosaurs) but those are small points compared to the quality of the overall story. It can easily be watched at any time and actually would make a decent story to introduce someone to the Fourth Doctor.
Overall personal score: 4.5 out of 5
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)