August 5: The Hand of Fear Parts One & Two

It opens with a desperate attempt to execute an alien war criminal (well, that's what we seem to be led to believe) before the ability to do so is gone, and the fact that there is a one in three million chance that something might survive is enough to severely worry the executioners -- but they press the button anyway, destroying the ship containing Eldrad the traitor.

I think you can guess where this is going.

The Doctor and Sarah seem awfully dim in their first scene.  They've arrived in a quarry but pay no mind to the blaring sirens; it's not until almost the very last moment that Sarah realizes something's wrong.  The subsequent scenes with all the rubble are suitably dramatic, and when Sarah finds a fossilized hand amidst everything, their troubles really begin.

This first episode does a nice job of keeping things moving.  The Doctor works out that this hand is incredibly old, belonging to a silicon-based lifeform that appears to have come "fluttering down by itself" -- no spaceship fragments are found in the quarry rocks.  Elisabeth Sladen, meanwhile, is clearly relishing the opportunity to play an evil (well, all right, possessed) character, giving a number of unnerving smiles and repeating "Eldrad must live" in a sing-song voice.  And it's already in this first episode that the possessed Sarah causes a panic at the nearby Nunton nuclear facility⁹⁴, taking the fossilized hand deep into the facility, right next to the nuclear reactor -- which leads into a great cliffhanger as Sarah opens the box she's carrying the broken hand in, and we see it regenerate and then begin to move...

The second episode, it has to be said, feels a lot like the second half of the first; Sarah is rescued and is cured of her possession, but that just means that someone else gets to be possessed and take the hand back inside.  Well, to be fair, the first half of the episode involves working out how to get to Sarah, who's locked herself inside the reactor room, but once they free her it's someone else's turn.  But there are some nice moments nevertheless -- Dr. Watson's phone call to his family when he thinks the plant is going to go into meltdown is often mentioned, and justly so.  There's also the nice little callback to Terror of the Zygons where the Doctor puts Sarah in a trance again -- although this time it's to get her to remember what happened when she was possessed by the hand rather than slowing down her breathing to save oxygen.

But ultimately this episode shows us the Doctor's efforts to get Sarah and the strange hand out of the reactor room, and once he succeeds someone else steps up to take the hand right back in.  Although the cliffhanger does show us something a little different from before, as Driscoll (the hand's new agent) succeeds in opening up the inner door and appears to walk straight into the nuclear reactor with the hand...







⁹⁴ We're one letter off from the nuclear complex seen in The Claws of Axos (also by Bob Baker & Dave Martin), which as you'll recall was called Nuton.  Nunton was originally going to be the same place, but then they apparently changed it, sticking the extra letter in to make it different.  It's not clear why they changed it though -- were they worried about having two incidents at the same place in such a relatively short span?  Not that the extra letter really fools anyone as to the original intention, mind...

August 4: The Masque of Mandragora Parts Three & Four

It's perhaps not that surprising, but the Doctor, it seems, is a fairly accomplished swordsman -- he appears to be holding his own against Count Federico's guards (although it's the arrival of the Brethren of Demnos that ends up chasing the guards away), and it's fun to see him wielding a sword -- even if the stuntman doubling for Tom Baker is wearing a wig that's not quite the right hair color.

There's also some entertainment to be had in Hieronymous's hypnotizing of Sarah, as he convinces her to try and kill the Doctor -- a role which Elisabeth Sladen seems to be relishing, as there's a rather evil smile on her face as she prepares to do the deed.  This stuff is probably more memorable in fandom, however, for Sarah's wondering how she can speak Italian -- this being a clue to the Doctor that something's not right with Sarah.  It's a "Time Lord gift" he allows her to share, by the way, but it's the first time that this has ever been brought up in the series before.

Everything else in this episode is fun but rather unmemorable.  Count Federico's machinations aren't honestly that engaging, and it only matters because he's preventing the Doctor from dealing with the main issue: the Mandragora's takeover of Hieronymous and his followers.  Federico's chaining everyone up in the palace dungeon is just letting Hieronymous gain power.  It's only when the Doctor convinces Federico of the threat Hieronymous poses (as the leader of the Brethren, if nothing else) that Federico accompanies him into the catacombs -- where Hieronymous kills Federico, after revealing that there's nothing behind the golden mask he wears except pure Helix energy...

Hieronymous instructs one of the Brethren of Demnos. (The
Masque of Mandragora Part Four) ©BBC

Now that Federico is out of the way, part four can concentrate on stopping the Mandragora Helix.  Yet even this feels a bit distant and uninvolved.  The Doctor has some sort of plan involving a metal breastplate and a bunch of wire, but we're not quite sure what it is.  The most engaging part is Duke Giuliano's decision to hold a masque to celebrate his accession to the throne, and that feels rather detached as well.  The dance is rather good (even if it does look a bit small), and while it's going on we see the Doctor confront Hieronymous, but we don't see the final outcome -- so when the Brethren attack the guests at the masque and lead the rest back to the ruined temple in the catacombs, we don't know what's happening, only that something is going on.  It's only at the end, when the Doctor reveals himself to have taken Hieronymous's place, that we work out what's happened: the Doctor grounded himself and drained away Hieronymous's energy, as well as that of the Brethren.  Earth is safe from the Mandragora.

It's a bit curious how laidback The Masque of Mandragora feels.  For something that could signal the end of the world, there's a lack of dramatic impetus here, as the story is content more to explore the ideas of late 15th century Italy and the interaction between superstition and science than it is to drive home the world-ending threat that we're told the Mandragora poses.  It's charming in its own way, but it definitely feels more like a casual summer stroll than the urgent march we've become used to from similar stories in this era of the show.

August 3: The Masque of Mandragora Parts One & Two

A new font for the titles (serif now!) heralds the start of season 14.  Then we get a quick gag about a boot cupboard and it's on to the brand-new control room -- the "second control room", the Doctor calls it.  It's all wood paneling and brass handrails, with some lovely stained-glass windows (well, roundels) inset along the wall.  It's a nice little set, even if it is covered in dust when we first see it.

A quick unintentional stop in the Mandragora Helix inadvertently leads to some Mandragora Helix energy getting aboard the TARDIS, which then takes the TARDIS to 15th-century Italy. ("Strange," the Doctor remarks.  "Forced landing. ... I didn't touch a thing.")  The Helix energy gets out, which leads to some rather nifty special effects as the energy (which appears to be a red light superimposed on the screen) moves things around and causes explosions and death (the sizzling of the water being a particular favorite of mine).  They did a really good job of making it seem like the light is actually interacting with things on the location.

The time period was well chosen by the Helix, it seems; writer Louis Marks (in his final script for the series) is making the point that this time is, as the Doctor says in part two, "the period between the dark ages of superstition and the dawn of a new reason," and thus the perfect time for the Helix to invade, as it uses the vestiges of one of the ancient religions (the cult of Demnos -- not a real cult or pagan figure, in case you were wondering), on the verge of being wiped out, as the way to cement its power on Earth.

Most of the first episode involves exploring 15th-century Italy, making our way to the seat of power in this area.  Count Federico seems to be the de facto ruler of San Martino (not a real dukedom), with little interest in the new science that the actual Duke, Giuliano, is engrossed in, but little regard for superstitions -- if he can't use it toward his own end, Federico doesn't care.  That includes the Doctor, who's trying to warn them about the Helix ("A ball of heavenly fire has come down to Earth.  It could consume everything in its path.  It could destroy the world").  Federico decides he's of no use and sends him to be executed...

Well, of course he manages to escape, where he not only rescues Sarah from the clutches of the Cult of Demnos but also meets up with Giuliano.  While rescuing Sarah though, he watches as the Helix energy descends upon the Cult -- it seems that the Helix has been communing with Hieronymous, Federico's court seer and the leader of the Cult, and the Doctor provided the Helix with the opportunity to reach Earth.  We also see more evidence of the effect Helix energy has on people -- turning their skin into a bright blue substance, rather like a form of copper oxidation.  But that's about it for this episode, and the cliffhanger is rather lackluster, as it simply involves Sarah being recaptured by the Brotherhood of Demnos; that said, the high priest's final line of the episode -- "Demnos will not be cheated of his pleasure, little one" -- is suitably menacing in its calmness.

August 2: The Seeds of Doom Parts Five & Six

It took a little while, but we've finally got a huge man-eating plant menacing everyone.  And it grows pretty quickly too; it was only last episode that Keeler was still tied to a bed, and now it moves from eight feet tall to something like twenty in the space of ten minutes of screen time, as the Doctor and Sarah are trapped inside the cottage with Scorby and two guards.  It's a pretty tense scene, particularly with the fourth Doctor as close to losing it as he ever gets.  "Scorby, if I die, you die," the Doctor hisses, after the Krynoid offers to let the others go in exchange for the Doctor's life.  "I'll take a chance on that," Scorby replies.  "There is no chance!" the Doctor yells, and you get a hint of the desperation the Doctor feels, not just to save himself and others, but to get through to Scorby that the Doctor is the only way to stop the Krynoid.  But it's only when the Doctor comes up with an alternate plan (that involves, somewhat infamously, Scorby making a Molotov cocktail) that he convinces Scorby that his way is best.

Then, as to be expected, there's a bunch of running around -- although, somewhat surprisingly, the Doctor actually leaves the grounds of Chase's mansion to personally get Sir Colin Thackery and UNIT (in their final story of the 70s -- not that anyone you'd recognize shows up) to come down and take care of the Krynoid.  But while he's gone, we get a very creepy scene with Chase inside his conservatory.  Chase has earlier tried to convince the Krynoid that he's on its side, and we now see him meditating with his plants.  When Scorby and Sarah try to talk to him, it becomes clear that he's gone insane (or possibly, as the Doctor later suggests, he's being controlled by the Krynoid). "The time has come," Chase says.  "Animals have ruled this planet for millions of years.  Now it is our turn."  "What do you mean, your turn?" Scorby says.  "You're one of us, Chase."  But Sarah realizes the truth: "He's not.  At least, not in his mind.  You hate us, don't you? ... You want to see us all die."  It's a chilling moment, beautifully underplayed by Tony Beckley as Chase.

The Krynoid above Chase's mansion. (The Seeds of Doom
Part Six) ©BBC

The cliffhanger's a bit lame (the Doctor (who comes back) and company are trapped outside the mansion while the Krynoid looms over the house), but part six does a great job of selling the danger that the Krynoid poses: "By my reckoning you've got about fifteen minutes before the Krynoid reaches the point of primary germination... The Krynoid is about to eject hundreds of embryo pods.  The whole planet will be doomed," the Doctor tells UNIT's Major Beresford (this story's Lethbridge-Stewart replacement).  And meanwhile the Krynoid is causing all the surrounding vegetation to also become dangerous and attack humanity -- it's not quite clear how, but it's still very effective, as it smashes windows and grabs people as they try to run through the grounds.  Scorby in particular has a memorable death, as he loses his nerve, runs through the grounds and is pulled under the waters of a pond by the ivy that lurks beneath.

Chase isn't quite done yet, as he kills a UNIT soldier with the composter and then plans the same fate for Sarah -- it's only the Doctor's last minute intervention that saves her.  The composter also proves to be Chase's undoing, as he physically wrestles the Doctor inside the scoop part (for lack of a better term) but then is caught up by the grinders, screaming horrifically as he goes (although the subsequent shot of the moving grinder is surprisingly clean).  "I tried to save him," the Doctor says with anguish.  Then there's just enough time to get out of the place before UNIT(?) jets blow the whole place up with bombs, killing the Krynoid.  The planet is safe, and the Doctor and Sarah head off for a well-deserved holiday -- only they end up in Antarctica because the Doctor forgot to cancel the coordinate programme in the TARDIS (suggesting he may have been planning to take the TARDIS to Antarctica before deciding to go by helicopter instead -- or you can treat it as a goof like everyone else does).

It fits squarely in this season's theme of going for a more scary approach (what's usually called "Gothic horror"), but the execution of The Seeds of Doom is, as has been observed before, rather atypical.  The Doctor is certainly more hands-on in this story than in others, more willing to be aggressive and violent.  But we also see a more desperate side of the Doctor -- especially in the later episodes -- that give this story an added impetus.  Douglas Camfield does another fantastic job in his final directorial assignment for Doctor Who (and, pleasingly, he's learned from Terror of the Zygons, which featured another giant monster on location, by shooting all the outdoor scenes on video so that the CSO monster effects are significantly more effective), adding a real sense of menace and (sorry) doom to the proceedings.  The slightly unusual approach this story takes means it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but it's very effective at what it sets out to do.

It's also the final story of season 13, a season which has set out to be much more terrifying than any season prior.  It's not the somewhat bleak and heartless style of season 3 or the straight-up scary monster approach of season 5, but instead an effort to create a more visceral feeling for the show.  Hinchcliffe and Holmes clearly want to make this show much more intense and adult than it's been before, and they do this partly by falling back on older tales that they know are effective and giving them a new spin, and partly by juxtaposing different scary elements to see what happens.  Whether by accident or design, it's an undeniably effective approach, and it's notable that the only story this season not to really follow this pattern (The Android Invasion, which feels like it would have been perfectly at home during Barry Letts's tenure) sticks out like a sore thumb.  Obviously it's an arguable point, but this is just about the scariest Doctor Who would ever get, consistently turning out purposefully terrifying stories.  It won't last for long, as the show moves on to a harder, more SF approach next season, before undergoing a radical shift in season 15, but that makes this season special -- an effort to really push the boundaries of the show.

August 1: The Seeds of Doom Part Three & Four

Parts one and two of this story could have been their own story; other than a brief sequence showing that the Doctor and Sarah survived (in which it's very clear that a sandy quarry covered with polystyrene doesn't make a good substitute for snow-covered plains), the action is entirely based in England.  Of course, everything that happens in England is a direct result of the events in Antarctica, so it's not like they're unconnected stories or anything.

Part three is obviously transitional -- the second pod hasn't hatched yet and the Doctor and Sarah don't even know where it's been taken.  It's only by luck (incompetence?  It's Chase's chauffeur that botches the murder attempt) that they learn that Chase has the pod, thanks to a roundabout manner via a painting in the boot of a car painted by Amelia Ducat, who's played by the marvelous Sylvia Coleridge.  She's a wonder every time she's on the screen, puttering away and being delightful all the time -- even when she's acting as an undercover agent for the World Ecology Bureau in part four.

The other notable thing about this episode is how violent it is, as the Doctor goes around thumping and tackling people.  Admittedly, a lot of it isn't really any different from Jon Pertwee shouting "hai!" and throwing people over his shoulder, but there are a couple unsettling moments -- such as when the Doctor grabs Scorby's head and twists it, almost as if he's going to break his neck.  That one looked like a moment too far (one can only imagine what would happen if children tried to imitate it).

There are other entertaining moments, though, such as when Chase gives the Doctor and Sarah a guided tour of his mansion, which culminates in a large conservatory, where Chase plays hideous electronic music for his plants.  "You know, Doctor, I could play all day in my green cathedral," Chase says campily.  But soon the show is over, and there are some standard escapes and recaptures -- one of which involves Sarah being readied to be the victim of the soon-to-germinate Krynoid pod...

Sarah discovers the infected Keeler. (The Seeds of Doom
Part Four) ©BBC

Part four opens with a great moment, as the Doctor (who's been watching from the skylight above) jumps through the glass, knocks out Scorby and takes his gun, and then holds Chase at gunpoint.  "What do you do for an encore, Doctor?" Chase asks drily.  "I win," the Doctor replies, pulling Sarah away.  It's admittedly a rather atypical scene for Doctor Who's leading man, but they pull it off.  And good thing, too, as immediately after this the pod germinates and infects Keeler.  Chase is fascinated by this and has Keeler taken to a nearby cottage rather than to a doctor -- Chase wants to see what happens.

Most of this episode consists of more running about.  The Doctor manages to get captured and is tied up in the basement, ready to be thrown into a really nasty-looking composter, but Sarah is still free at least.  But this episode also has the ticking time bomb of Keeler's transformation, as we see him become more and more covered with plant material as the Krynoid takes over his body.  There's a tense moment where Sarah comes across him and he pleads to be set free, promising that he won't hurt her -- but it looks fairly obvious that he's lying as the Krynoid instincts take hold.

Then at the end of the episode, while Sarah is freeing the Doctor from the composter (and just in the nick of time, too), Keeler breaks free from his bonds and begins to roam the grounds (and it's probably worth noting that the human-looking Krynoid costume is an old Axon costume painted green -- you can sometimes see a bit of red peeking through).  What's more, by the time the Doctor and Sarah find him, he's lost all trace of humanity, and the Krynoid is now a large, deadly plant intent on devouring our heroes...

July 31: The Seeds of Doom Parts One & Two

It starts with some really poor superimposed blowing "snow" over stock footage before settling down into a tale of horror in the Antarctic (which is apparently having record precipitation, given the amount of blowing snow we see).  And it's clear from the outset -- at least for these two episodes -- that this is intended to be closer to the horrific end of the SF spectrum.  Yes, six years before John Carpenter did it, Doctor Who sets out to do its own version of The Thing from Another World.

The first episode is mainly set-up for the terror that will later be unleashed, with the discovery of the seed pod in the permafrost, the Doctor and Sarah making their way to Antarctica, the pod's germination and infection of Winlett... all pieces that are being put into play.  The  cliffhanger to part one is the discovery that the plant-infected thing that was once Winlett is now moving around and killing people -- everything before that is just ratcheting up the tension.  And part of the reason this episode is so successful at raising that tension is because of how seriously the Doctor is treating things.  He clearly has his suspicions about this seed pod, and seeing what's left of it and the effects on Winlett only confirm his fears: this is an alien plant that will destroy everything.  "On planets where the Krynoid gets established," the Doctor tells Sarah, "the vegetation eats the animals."

Once part two starts, the horror part kicks in, as the Krynoid is wandering around looking for food.  Yet that's not the main concern for the main characters -- no, that's the arrival of two men determined to find the strange pod for a plant collector named Harrison Chase (who found out about the pod last episode via the same person who informed the Doctor), and who are willing to kill everyone else to cover their tracks.  So while the Krynoid roams free, the Doctor and Sarah are tied up in the living quarters of the base and held at gunpoint.  One of Chase's men, Keeler, is uneasy with the violence, but the other, Scorby, has no such compunctions; when he learns that they found a second seed pod (which the Doctor went out of his way to find for some reason), Scorby takes it and decides to wire a bomb to the base's power plant -- tying Sarah up next to the bomb for added measure.

Despite the ever-present threat of the Krynoid, it doesn't actually make a direct attack on anyone until the end, when it kills Stevenson in the main camp and then moves to attack the Doctor and Sarah inside the power plant.  They manage to lock it inside and then run away as the clock on Scorby's bomb reaches zero, and the episode ends with a tremendous explosion as the power plant is ripped apart...

July 30: The Brain of Morbius Parts Three & Four

Morbius may just be a brain in a jar, but he still gets one of the best villain rants ever: "Solon, I think of nothing else [than gaining a body again]!  Trapped like this, like a sponge beneath the sea.  Yet even a sponge has more life than I.  Can you understand a thousandth of my agony?  I, Morbius, who once led the High Council of the Time Lords and dreamed the greatest dreams in history, now reduced to this, to a condition where I envy a vegetable."

In fact, it's Solon's reassurances that Morbius will have a body again that leads to Morbius's panicking, as he learns that the Doctor is a Time Lord.  "That is why his head is so perfect.  From one of your own race, from one of those who turned up on you and tried to destroy you, you get a new head for Morbius.  The crowning irony," Solon tells him.  "Fool!" Morbius cries, alarmed at the thought that the Time Lords have found him.  "I'm sorry, the pun was irresistible," Solon says, misunderstanding Morbius.  But yes, this is the moment in which Morbius decides to stick his head in a plastic fishbowl, never mind the consequences -- he has to be able to escape from the Time Lords and the Sisterhood, who he thinks are working together.

Yet the Doctor's not exactly getting along with the Sisterhood.  He's doing better than the last time he was there, but even after solving the problem of their dying Sacred Flame (thanks to a firecracker knocking some soot loose) they're not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt: "And so now, Doctor, you expect us to show gratitude?" Maren asks disdainfully.  Next thing we see of the Doctor, he's lying on a stretcher, about to be taken back to Solon.  (Actually, it's never made clear if the Sisterhood is really returning the Doctor to Solon or if it's just a ruse to get the Doctor back inside Solon's place.)

Intriguingly, they also spend the entire episode with Sarah still blind -- which leads to lots of nice blind acting from Elisabeth Sladen, as she's forced to assist Solon in his operation -- since Condo became angry when he saw that Morbius had his arm and fought with Solon, inadvertently knocking Morbius's brain onto the floor in the process.  She does finally regain her eyesight though -- just in time for the completed Morbius creature to menace her...

Morbius and the Doctor engaged in a mindbending contest.
(The Brain of Morbius Part Four) ©BBC

Part four has a couple odd moments, it must be said.  The strangest part is after an already questionable moment where the Doctor orders Solon to kill Morbius and then wanders off after Sarah, apparently just trusting that Solon will obey; but stranger is the decision, after Solon traps them downstairs, for the Doctor to make cyanogen and send it up the ventilation shaft.  Does he hope Solon will investigate?  Because what actually happens is that the gas kills Solon instead (all right, maaaaaaybe it only knocks him out, but we never hear from him again) -- it's only because Morbius now has "the lungs of a birastrop" and is thus immune to cyanide gas that the Doctor and Sarah are freed.  This leads to a mindbending contest between Morbius and the Doctor⁹³, the result of which leaves Morbius crazed and the Doctor on the verge of death.  But Morbius pitches over a cliff to his death, and the Doctor is restored thanks to some of the Sisterhood's Elixir.  The galaxy is safe from Morbius and the Doctor and Sarah depart (albeit with a rather odd-looking and -sounding dematerialization effect -- what was director Christopher Barry going for here?).

It's got some strange moments, sure, but The Brain of Morbius continues the recent trend of brimming with such confidence that any flaws are simply brushed aside.  This self-assured approach (never once does this story seem uncertain about where it's going or why things are happening) makes this a tremendous success -- highly entertaining in almost every regard, with everyone involved on the top of the game.  The mystic nature of the Sisterhood is also a nice touch -- and provides a good contrast to both Solon's "mad scientist" scheme and the Doctor's rational approach.  A superb tale.







⁹³ All right, let's talk about the Morbius Doctors.  During the mind duel, we see various former faces of Morbius and the Doctor: in order, braincase Morbius, the Morbius face that Solon has a bust of, then Tom Baker, Jon Pertwee, Patrick Troughton, and William Hartnell.  There's a cut away to Sarah (so possibly they started showing Morbius faces again when we weren't looking), then back to eight unfamiliar faces as Morbius crows, "Your puny mind is powerless against the strength of Morbius!  Back!  Back to your beginning!"  So the clear intention is that these are pre-Hartnell Doctors (and producer Philip Hinchcliffe has confirmed that that was what they were going for).  
     Obviously this causes all sorts of continuity problems with other stories, so fandom has bent over backwards trying to explain what these faces are, with theories ranging from "They're Morbius" (which doesn't really at all fit with what's actually going on) to "The Doctor's faking it" (well, ok then -- boring but plausible) to the very 90s theory of "They're the faces of the Other, the Gallifreyan who was there with Rassilon and was reincarnated much later as the Doctor" (that's putting it very roughly -- see the New Adventure books for more if you're really curious (or you can follow this link, but I'm not sure it helps)).  Nowadays, in the post-50th-anniversary world where we know of other incarnations who "don't count" as the Doctor, we could also speculate that these are incarnations from before he called himself "Doctor", a title which seems to coincide with a new regenerative cycle -- but that opens up a lot more cans of worms.  It might be simpler to just go with the "faking it" theory.