June 25: The Green Death Episodes One & Two

It's interesting how quickly the "end of an era" feeling begins in The Green Death.  It's all over the first UNIT scene, with the Doctor offering to take Jo to Metebelis III and her choosing to go down to South Wales to help Professor Jones in his crusade against a company called Global Chemicals instead.  She seems to feel it's her duty to try and make a difference, and that this Professor Jones reminds her of a younger Doctor.  "I don't know whether to feel flattered or insulted," the Doctor replies.  He tries to sweeten the deal by offering to take her not just to Metebelis III, but anywhere and anywhen she'd like to go, but her mind is made up.  "So the fledgling flies the coop," the Doctor remarks a bit sadly, after Jo leaves, before setting out on his own to Metebelis III.

But the story really starts with a parody of Neville Chamberlain's speech about the Munich Agreement, the pact which allowed Nazi Germany to annex part of Czechoslovakia.  "I have in my hand a piece of paper which will mean a great deal to all of you," the director of Global Chemicals, Stevens, tells the crowd of gathered ex-miners.  "Wealth in our time!"  The miners seem reasonably happy with this, as it means they'll have jobs, but Professor Jones and his compatriots are protesting that it will mean an increase in pollution.  Yes, for the first time in Pertwee-era Who, Barry Letts and Terrance Dicks are deliberately tackling a current hot topic: the problem of pollution and what it will eventually do to the planet without making changes.  (They've tackled social issues before, but this is the first time they'd commissioned/written a story specifically designed to address one.)

This first episode consists primarily of setting up the opposing points of view, and as such there's not much in the way of excitement or action.  There's the death at the very beginning, the cliffhanger, and then the Doctor's trip to Metebelis III, which looks an utterly miserable time, as the Doctor is attacked by all sorts of creatures while he grabs a blue sapphire as a souvenir.  Still, at least he was right about the blue light everywhere.  But everything else is set-up: Professor Jones is working on sustainability, and thus he opposes Global Chemicals and their oil refinery process.  However, Director Stevens insists that their revolutionary new process not only allows them to refine 25% more petrol and diesel from a given amount of crude oil but also produces no waste.  "Well, I'm no scientist, Mr. Stevens, but I find that somewhat difficult to believe," the Brigadier tells him.  Professor Jones believes that Global Chemicals is lying and is simply pumping the waste into the disused mines.  Jo wants to go and look, but Professor Jones is too busy.  (We should probably also note how much the first meeting between Jo and Jones is pitched as a meet cute, with adorable/"adorable" (delete according to preference) bumbling from Jo and a lot of teasing from Professor Jones.  This is Jo Grant's last story, after all, but at least they're taking the time to try and set up her departure (as opposed to, say, Liz Shaw's complete disappearance between seasons 7 and 8).)

So Jo's off to the mine, but there's a problem as she descends with another miner, Bert: the brakes on the lift aren't working and it's running out of control...

Episode two is a bit more action-packed, first with the Doctor's successful effort to halt the lift's descent (by jamming a piece of metal into the pulley system and forcing it to stop), and then with their efforts to free Jo and Bert from the lift.  The only way they can get down into the mine now is to cut the cable of the broken lift and then rigging up a donkey pulley to send the lift in the other shaft down (they work in tandem, you see).  The mine doesn't have cutting equipment, but Global Chemicals does.

Dai Evans is the latest victim of the mysterious "green
death".  (The Green Death Episode Two) ©BBC

Global Chemicals don't want people going down into the mines, and so they're deliberately obstructive, informing UNIT that they have no cutting equipment on site.  The Brigadier goes off to get some while the Doctor decides to infiltrate Global Chemicals.  A couple fight scenes later (where, for the first time, it's incredibly obvious that Terry Walsh is doubling for Jon Pertwee -- the hair's the wrong color, for starters), the only thing the Doctor accomplishes is bringing himself to the attention of Stevens' boss, at this point only represented by a disembodied voice and an oscilloscope trace on a screen.  Jo and Bert, meanwhile, have decided to venture into the mine in search of another exit.  They encounter Dai Evans, a miner who's been infected with the same green glowing skin condition as John Scott Martin at the start of episode one, but they leave him behind as they search for the exit.  They also find a strange green substance that appears to burn Bert when he touches it, and shortly thereafter he starts to exhibit the same green glow.

The Doctor and some miners manage to gain access to the mine and set off in search of Jo and Bert.  They find Bert, who's in a bad way, and while the miners take him back the Doctor moves ahead to find Jo.  He does so, but he also finds a huge pool of glowing green goo, filled with large maggots.  It's a suitably unnerving sight, but it's about to get even worse, for as the Doctor and Jo turn back, part of the mine collapses -- revealing three large, hissing maggots...