Doctor Who: The Claws of Axos

Serial Title: The Claws of Axos
Series: 8
Episodes: 4
Doctor: Jon Pertwee
Companions: Jo Grant (Katy Manning), Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney)

Synopsis:
An alien spacecraft appears, heading for Earth, and blowhard government official Chinn (why do they give all these pompous idiots the authority to take control of UNIT? Do you think they'd just let "Senator Sturmwell from Nebraska" (picking a state at random, here, so no offense intended, Nebraskites!) just take control of the US Military? Isn't that what you have trained, experienced military commanders for?) steps in and orders it shot out of the sky.

The attack fails and the spacecraft lands- and devours a homeless man, grabbing him with a giant claw and sucking him inside the spacecraft. It causes all sorts of freak weather activities as well. Off to a promising start in Earth/Alien relations, the Brigadier, the Doctor, Jo, and American agent Bill Filer, dispatched to coordinate with UNIT on the worldwide manhunt for the at-large Master (whom the Doctor continues to insist has left Earth now that he has a dematerialization circuit handy, but on whom the Earth is taking no chances), unaware of the spacecraft's hobo-appetite, head out to meet the alien spacecraft firsthand.

Inside, they are met by the Axons, gold-skinned, faux-beautiful humanoids that have come to offer humanity a gift: Axonite, a miracle substance that can replicate and duplicate any material (including replicating food and power, ending all material needs). The material is taken to the nearby Nuton power plant for testing as Chinn starts getting delusions of Earth-revolutionizing grandeur.

Meanwhile, Bill Filer arrives separately from the group and is captured and held next to the Axon's other prisoner... the Master, captured soon after leaving Earth, who has led them back to this world as an easily-conquerable prize in return for his freedom (not yet granted). Filer has fulfilled his mission to find the Master, but is hardly in any position to do anything about it.

However, the Doctor suspects foul play, getting on Chinn's bad side, and insisting that he be allowed to join the team examining Axonite. Chinn, suspecting that UNIT and the Doctor will interfere in his becoming a global hero, retaliates by having the Doctor and UNIT placed... UNDER MILITARY ARREST...?!?!?! (SERIOUSLY, WHERE DOES HE GET THE AUTHORITY TO DO THIS?!??! I Did they elect a king of the entire planet, and this is his cousin or something?!?!) The Doctor, allowed to continue the examination under 'house arrest,' runs samples through an enormous 'light accelerator' machine.

The Axons create a false Bill Filer and send him to assassinate the Doctor, leading to a colossal battle around the light accelerator- but the real Bill Filer escapes and arrives just in time to destroy his duplicate by hurling them into the accelerator. The Axons are revealed to be horrific spaghetti-pile creatures, part of a collective intelligence, with the golden-beauties as false avatars... and, their evil plot revealed, they attack en masse, bulletproof, and armed with grappling claw-tipped tentacles that can explode a man simply by touching him. With UNIT under arrest, the standard military attempts to deal with them... and is slaughtered.

The Doctor and Jo are captured- the Axons know that the Doctor is a Time Lord, and want the secret of time travel (having captured the Master's TARDIS). They claim that they can restore the Doctor's knowledge of TARDIS operations, blocked by the Time Lords. Meanwhile, the Master escapes, and heads straight for the Doctor's TARDIS, intending to flee... but in the process of trying to make it operational, he is captured by the Brigadier! The Master bargains for his freedom in return for helping to defeat the Axons. He and the Brigadier make an excellent team, turning the power of the reactor and light accelerator, captured by the Axons to draw power form, back upon the Axon ship before they can activate the Axonite, a Trojan Horse that will envelop and devour the Earth.

The plan fails, but in the chaos, the Doctor and Jo escape... and the Doctor realizes that the avarice of the Axons could be used to trap them. In a ruse that even the audience almost believes, the Doctor convinces the Master that he is willing to team up to repair the TARDIS and escape the 'doomed' Earth, valuing a regained mobility over any loyalty to Earth. With the Master's help, the TARDIS is repaired, and the Doctor takes the two of them to the Axon ship.

The Doctor then offers his own deal to the Axons, double-crossing the Master: to link the power of his own TARDIS with the Master's captured unit and to give the Axons the power of time travel. However, he instead uses the power of the linked TARDISes to generate a time loop, trapping the Axons inside- because of their linked, interconnected nature, every bit of the Axons, including their foot-soldier avatars and the Axonite molecules throughout the world, is pulled in. The Doctor uses his TARDIS to escape the loop as it closes up, as the again-betrayed Master (seriously, for two serials in a row, he's been the honorable one that is double-crossed by a treacherous, lying, dishonorable Doctor!) escapes to his own TARDIS and likewise flees.

Oh, and that jerk Chinn...? No repercussions. He escapes the Axon attack, and is last seen alive and well with no repercussions for his absurdly heavy-handed, idiotic tactics. Talk about a flippin' loose thread...!

The Doctor returns to Earth, though not out of any loyalty to UNIT or Jo... instead, his TARDIS has been reprogrammed to rematerialize on Earth whenever it dematerializes. Even though, with the Master's help, the ship is functional again, the Doctor still lacks the knowledge to pilot it, and even if he could, it is irrevocably tethered to Earth- like, as the Doctor puts it, "a galactic yo-yo."

Review:
The Claws of Axos (also known as the far more generic ‘The Vampire From Space,’ which the first two episodes were produced as, animated titles and all, before they changed it; other candidates included ‘Doctor Who and the Gift’ and ‘The Friendly Invasion’) starts off with a blithering barrage of irritating illogic, and quickly (and unexpectedly) transforms into one of the best Third Doctor serials yet!

The beginning unquestionably starts off on the wrong foot- the alien spacecraft incoming, and UNIT ascertains a firing solution, which the (anti-military) Doctor (seriously, I wanted to punch his smug face in again for the first couple of episodes- thank goodness the likability meter was cranked again in the second half!) snipes at. "Just a precaution, Doctor," notes the Brig, reasonably. "Shoot first, ask questions later, eh, Brigadier?" asks the Doctor testily. Uhhhh... no. That is the exact OPPOSITE of what a precaution is, and exactly 180 from what the Brigadier just said!!! The Doctor's again just being hostile to prudence for no good reason, and demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of what a precaution is! To which Chinn responds by... immediately firing missiles at the as-yet-unidentified craft! Demonstrating that HE doesn't understand what a precaution is, either- proving the Doctor right by way of clumsy writing, despite having just given the Brig a line entirely contradicting this course of action! In fact, the whole first episode and part of the second is like this- characters behaving illogically, acting as if the last scene they were in or the last line given to them never happened, and generally doing things for no GOOD reason, only because plot contrivance told them to. It's all very ham-fisted and quite obnoxious.

And yet... somehow... at some point you don't even recognize, it begins to turn itself around. The Doctor and his obnoxious attitudes are taken out of center-stage, and Bill Filer and the Master- both entertaining and enjoyable characters, take his place. The narrative keeps up a brisk pace. The effects astound. The plot keeps interest. And when the Doctor does return, he's had a seeming personality transplant that's sanded down the prickles. And suddenly you find yourself saying "Hey, I LIKE this Third Doctor adventure! And not like Inferno or Ambassadors or Spearhead, where I can accentuate the positive because I'm loyal to the show... but like Terror of the Autons, where I genuinely ENJOY watching it! Except... more so!!" Before you know it, the Doctor is voyaging in the TARDIS again, the bad guys are being routed, explosions and plot twists galore, and all of a sudden, you LIKE this story!! The past transgressions are forgiven, and you can fully invest in the thrill of the serial. How did this happen? Well, let's explore some of the elements of the story and see if we can find out...

As per my quandary in the last serial, the Master returns- in quite an unexpected way- captured on his way off Earth. At the end, he departs again in a working TARDIS. In addition, the Doctor's dematerialization circuit is repaired, only for him to discover a new problem; his TARDIS is programmed to re-route to Earth. Still, now it is fully functional again, and potentially capable of travel across the globe. Both of these are extremely surprising developments- the expected status quo is being kept up (Doctor stuck on Earth, Master as recurring villain)- but without stagnating the story. The situations for both of them are continuing to develop, along paths that bring them back to the expected place through natural and well-thought-out plots instead of Gilligan's Island-style contrivances to keep everything from developing and resetting at the end of each episode. This is a good sign for the series- the writers are putting some effort into things! Still, is that it? The entire reason why things are so good...? Despite the detractions? I mean, everyone was acting pretty obnoxious at the beginning- All right, let's run down the characters, and see whether they helped or hindered.

Chinn... hindered. A lot. Here was General Carrington, Mark II- only this time, instead of an obsessed madman in charge, it's a greedy fool with bureaucratic power. Was there anything more satisfying than seeing his home office strip him of it, and offer his resignation for him to sign? Or when the soldiers turned on him? That the Brigadier didn't arrest HIM is a testament to his patience. This character was obnoxious, though more of a comic foil than a true antagonist. Again, once he was sidelined, the story got much better.

Bill Filer... helped. A great deal. He served more or less as the protagonist, taking some heroic actions, having a great (well-staged and well-realized) double-fight, and generally acting heroic- I was glad for his survival at the end, and wouldn't mind seeing him again.

The Master... was at his best here. He had some great sequences- his bridge-jump stunt sequence, his mulling over the TARDIS repairs, his taking a Doctor-like role in the first confrontation between the Master and the Brig, his working with UNIT and the Doctor, his disbelief that the Doctor would actually betray his friends- he had a lot to do, and carried much of the middle of the story on his own. The real surprise came when he actually fed the power to overload the Axons as promised- he had taken every previous opportunity to try and weasel his way into escape, it was the one bit of honesty that proved shocking! Again, with the Axons as the true villains, the master becomes more of a foil and a grudging ally- a role in which he does quite well.

Jo... must be really cold. Those location shots looked downright frigid (courtesy of an overnight snowstorm- out of continuity with the vagrant shots shot a few weeks before, necessitating an added line about ‘freak weather conditions’ resulting from the Axos ship’s arrival), and as short as that skirt was...! Jo continues the trend-reversal from Mind of Evil in this serial; though she is not as useful or active here as she was in that serial, she makes positive contributions (whilst not-understanding a lot in order to give the Doctor exposition opportunities). While certainly not the powerhouse that she was in the last serial- and rather reduced in role to accommodate the larger cast- her overall role was very positive- heaven help me, I think I'm actually beginning to like her as a companion!

The Brigadier... was likewise not the powerhouse of the last serial... but he is no-nonsense in his dealings, not over-reactive militarily, and you have to cheer when he gets the upper hand over that git, Chinn. And with both Chinn and the Master, he forgoes any kind of grudge, acting honestly, honorably, and practically to resolve the crises at hand. Again, a very positive portrayal.

And, the Doctor... oh, Doctor. So irritating in the beginning; why must you always begrudge the military prudent precautions against potential threats, especially those that turn out to be right every time? It was about the scene in the particle accelerator, facing off against that obnoxious and grating scientist, that I came to a realization about this Doctor- he is a jerk to everyone he comes in contact to, abrasive and rude. We like him when he is being a jerk to people we don't like (like Stahlman in Inferno), and get annoyed with him when he's a jerk to people we do (like the Brigadier, of late). Either way, he never stops being a jerk... he just re-directs it to targets we approve of sometimes. Well, the first half of the serial did him no favors, but the second half- starting with his escape with Jo (and use of number recitation to keep her conscious and rational), to his apparent-betrayal, and last-minute heroics, re-earned the good graces that he had in series 7. Overall, the second half fares much better for him than the first, and he ends the serial more likable than unlikeable... please, Doctor- keep up the trend!

Alright, More good than bad- and most of the bad centered in the first half. That could certainly account for things... but aren't we forgetting the two stars of the show?

The first, the Axons, are excellently realized- the pile-of-spaghetti true forms are a little clumsy, perhaps (reminding me of an unholy union between the Krotons and the Excalibans from the original Star Trek's "The Savage Curtain"), but the humanoid forms- with their golden skin, sculpted-looking hair, and strange golden bug-eyes, were quite effective (if goofily clad in flower-child hippie attire) and very alien- with excellent mannerisms and voices. Little alienesque touches abound- the biological technology and protruding claws, the use of tentacles primarily (resulting in a number of shocking moments, from the hauling in of the vagrant- WHY did they have to keep cutting to him so often? It got obnoxious- and Bill, to the stabbing of Bill with a tentacle in episode 3, to the explosive effects during the outdoor battle... all of which were superbly realized, creepy, alien, and disturbing), the wonderfully funny moment in which the Axons assume that frogs are one of our primary food animals, and embarrassingly continue with "Well, pretending that they were..." after finding out otherwise, the hanging alien eye (again, like an unholy crossbreed between a Star Wars dianoga and Max the computer from Fligth of the Navigator) with it's weird, biological, pulsing background, the round, mushroom-like protrusions making up much of the floor and the oddly-configured chair, and most excellently, the view screen!

A humanoid-Axon's head appears, slowly rotating left as it talks, then fading seamlessly to a straight-on gaze which slowly rotates to the right... then back to the center, rotating left, and so on... all done in one take with no rotation of the head, change in tone, or break in continuity- it is all one continuous take (probably accomplished with dual cameras)- it most definitely ISN'T the actor reciting part of the line, then going back to the middle and trying to mimic his own performance- it's one seamless, unbroken take that is marvelously alien and astoundingly creative; I have seen something this innovative and unique, yet simple and effective, since... well, since Matt Smith and new Doctor Who, actually. It's crackling full of Doctor Who brilliance- a little moment of conversation on a view screen that cold have easily been just a head talking, and no one would have thought twice about it- but instead, this little extra touch, just to make things more ALIEN, calls attention (in a good way) to the truly unfathomable weirdness of this species, to great effect. Everything involved with the Axons is brilliantly realized and tremendously creative; this is a totally alien culture and technology branch, and ti shows... and it WORKS. I cannot give high enough kudos to this effort- I haven't been this impressed with innovation in film-making technique and overall method to set a mood in Doctor Who (or anywhere else!) since The Mind Robber! And the effects (which we'll get to shortly) only add to the effect! (Ironically, the legacy of this serial, brand new as of 2011, goes completely WITHOUT any visual components- The Feast of Axos, a sixth-Doctor (why does he get all the legacy stories, seriously?!? Jamie, Zoe, Axons…) audio drama which features Bernard Holley reprising his role as the voice of the Axons.)

But, what of the other star of the series... the TARDIS. My jaw hit the floor when the Master entered into the TARDIS... and the camera followed him in! I was not expecting to see a TARDIS interior until The Three Doctors in series 10; the Earth-exile is not ended, but here we have the new console room, a new console... the first TARDIS interior we've seen since the War Games, and the VERY FIRST TARDIS interior in the color era! What a milestone- and it looks great! The cannibalized, under-repair TARDIS as the Doctor left it, the repaired and function version- the old girl actually FLYNG again!- one of the roundels functioning as a view screen just like the end of The Wheel In Space... and oh, OH, OH!!! did it feel good to be flying in the TARDIS again!!! This is the way it was always meant to be, and the thrill of the Doctor escaping in the TARDIS at the end was truly tangible! It was familiar and wonderful, and I think we shall be rushing through the remainder of Series 8 and all of Series 9 in order to get to the return of that era; it's truly been missed. This, then, supercharged the already exciting atmosphere and perhaps pushed the serial over the top- this is what the audience wanted, and it feels GOOD.

Added to that, of course, is an unflagging pace. (Which is ironically only an after-effect of the over-budget preceding Mind of Evil; its expense caused the original seven-episode serial- already whittled down to 6 by the producers who were starting to realize that 7 parts was too long- to be whittled down to 4, the action relocated from the originally-planned later-Doctor Who cliché of Battersea power station, and overall tightened up). The plot keeps along at a fair clip in this shorter, 4-part serial... and it takes numerous twists and turns; first an alien-visitor story in which it is UNIT vs. Chinn, the foolish bureaucrat- then, just as that is getting resolved, we discover that the aliens aren't what they seem, and the Master is involved, having sold out Earth... and our characters are prevented from finding out about it, as Chinn takes over and unlawfully imprisons our heroes- now, it's a race to escape and a tense journey of exploration, to see if they can discover the plans of the Axons before it's too late, with a 72-hour ticking clock... then, a brief plot about doubles and the Doctor's abduction segues us into a marvelously clever Master and UNIT vs. the Axon invasion- a standard army-vs-aliens plot enlivened by fantastic effects and an uneasy alliance- then, the Doctor escapes (and you have to love that moment where he strides in the door just as the Master reaches it, foiling the latter's escape; it was a bit of a cheer-out-loud, "I am that man!" moment)... and it becomes an apparent conspiracy, the Doctor and the Master working together to escape a doomed Earth- you know that each is playing the other, but you don't know HOW- (between this and the Mind-of-Evil-climax exchange betrayal, the two can never have any trust between them; or, I'd suspect, work together ever again!)- and then, it becomes a traditional, and much-appreciated, Doctor Who ending- the Doctor in the TARDIS, pulling a last minute trick to defeat the bad guys and escape... with a fine little comedy ending in which the Doctor finds he can't explain the concept of a time loop to the Brig, and that he's stuck on Earth due to TARDIS programming (another great moment that, like his entrance above, probably should've gone into the Doctor's paragraph as examples of some of his positive moments). It goes all over the place, offering us so many different KINDS of stories within its short run- so much variety and fun, it never fails to keep interest.

And, of course, all of this is aided by fantastic effects. They blew the budget on this one, I imagine- not only is it bluescreen-crazy, but we have the opening (okay, a little cheap-looking) model shot of the ship, that fantastic entrance with its irised-portal, a magnificent matte-painting establishing-shot for the particle accelerator, and best of all, some fantastic practical effects in battle. The moment in which an Axon tentacle stabs a man, who instantly explodes, is incredible- one of the most seamless effects I've ever seen- with no jump or awkward cut; it's very smooth, and very effective. Shots of the Axons outside- including one strange, dream-like shot of an Axon marching down a tunnel from far off, and with a strange frame-rate- compliment the action well, and the practical-effect work of the deflating heads sucking into themselves is gruesome and appropriately creepy. There was only one major effects failure, and that was the scene of the Axons taking over a jeep (which was excellently staged, with great stunts and pyrotechnics)- the blue background behind the truck (either supposed to be a dark sky-blue background, or an unkeyed bluescreen that hadn’t been replaced with anything- accounts differ) doesn’t even REMOTELY match the overcast gray/white sky of the exterior scenes; the effect is quite jarring and confusing, even after one realizes what one is looking at. It’s a severe and disorienting mismatch. Of course, it's all accompanied by the same awful music; this lot is better than Mind of Evil, with some actual melodies and tone-appropriate-ness, but my long-desired GOOD score to a Pertwee serial, it ain't.

All in all, Claws of Axos blew me away with its great story, excellent pace, amazing effects, aura of excitement, and incredibly creative Axon effects. It's a winner for sure, and exactly the kind of serial that the Third Doctor needed to inject the sense of adventure back into the show.


Great Moments:
The fight in the particle accelerator. The Doctor and Jo’s recitation-escape through the disorienting vessel. The Axon on the catwalk.

Rating:
I want to subtract some points for the obnoxious opening and annoying Doctor characterization in the first half... but I can't. I honestly can't justify taking a single point off for this serial, and though the opening isn't perfect, the overall serial more than makes up for it's flaws. 5 out of 5 Tumbling Autons- the second perfect score, and the first true classic on the level of Marinus and Mind Robber, for the Third Doctor's era.

Rating:
With its high-tech accelerator, international manhunt for the Master, and general high technology throughout, I think I'm going to have to give this one a near-future-80s vote by a narrow margin.

Doctor Who: Terror of the Autons

Serial Title: Terror of the Autons

Series: 8

Episodes: 4

Doctor: Jon Pertwee

Companions: Jo Grant (Katy Manning), Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney)

Synopsis:

We open to a circus, and a familiar groaning and wheezing sound, as something fades into view. Could it be…?! But no, the sound is slightly different… and this is no policebox, but a horse-trailer. And the man who emerges is definitely not the Doctor. A dark-clothed, goateed, sinister-looking man immediately compels the circus owner to do his bidding- stealing the remaining Nestene meteorite (from Spearhead from Space) from display at a local museum. This is the Master, a rogue Time Lord who is perhaps even more brilliant than the Doctor, a thorn in his side, and a familiar foe. After commandeering a radio telescope, he connects the meteorite to it and transmits a signal…

Back at UNIT HQ, bad news reaches the Doctor in spades- the theft of the meteorite, the ruination of his newly-constructed dematerialization circuit, and most of all, the woman responsible for it- Jo Grant, an intended replacement for the recently-departed Liz, a nepotism-hired ditz who ruins the delicate microcircutry with a fire extinguisher (Doctor Who is doing its part to raise public awareness of all of the dangerous applications of fire extinguishers lately…) due to assuming that the smoke from the Doctor’s micro-welding was in fact a fire of some sort. And later that day, the news just gets worse, as a Time Lord from Gallifrey appears (incognito) to warn the Doctor about the Master’s arrival, and about a bomb planted within the radio telescope center that he’s investigating. (Awwwww, they really DO care…) Disarming the bomb with some heroic acrobatics (don’t ask), the Doctor ponders the arrival of his old nemesis… and finds his calling card, the shrunken corpse of one of the telescope technicians.

At a local plastics factory, owner Rex Farrel has fallen under the sway of “Colonel Masters,” fully hypnotized into doing his bidding. His production manager, James McDermott, confronts him about his erratic behavior, and is soon killed by an invention of the Master’s, a lethal self-expanding plastic couch. (Don’t ask). When Rex’s father, summoned by McDermott before his death, comes to investigate (and proves mind-control resistant due to his strong will), the Master plants a hideous troll-like doll, about two feet tall, (no rhyme intended) in his backseat as a ‘new product sample’ and turns up the heat… the doll starts to animate with murderous intent, but Farrel, Sr. turns down the heat, and the doll becomes inert.

Meanwhile, as the Doctor surmises the connection between the Master and the Nestenes, Jo goes off to investigate and prove her worth to the Doctor- and is captured and hypnotized to take the crate that used to contain the meteorite back to UNIT HQ… with a bomb inside! The Doctor recognizes her hypnotized condition and the potential trap, and throws the bomb out the window just in time; fortunately the window overlooks a small cliff over the sea. But the Master still gains a victory, as the heat is high enough in Farrel, Sr.’s house that the doll animates again, and completes its murderous mission.

Investigating the sighting of the other radio telescope technician (who is missing) at a local circus, the Doctor is captured and threatened by the strong man, but escapes with the help of Jo. He slips inside the Master’s TARDIS (which he’s identified on the circus grounds), but emerges to find a group of angry, hypnotized circus performers on the attack. The mob surrounds him and begins to mercilessly beat him, but the Doctor and Jo are rescued by the timely arrival of the police’s protective custody, with the Brigadier and Captain Yates (a new young officer who has an eye for Jo) moments behind, following in another car.

However, it’s out of the frying pan and into the fire, as the policemen are disguised Autons! As the Doctor reveals their true appearance, they enter a quarry (for once a quarry on Doctor Who actually represents a quarry!), and crash during a struggle for control of the car. The Brigadier and Yates arrive to engage the Autons, who are trying to kill the Doctor- but while small-arms fire fails, Yates takes the initiative and rams the Autons with his car, sending them tumbling (in a truly impressive display) down a steep bluff. By the time they climb back up, the group has escaped.

The Doctor takes the dematerialization circuit that he’s absconded with from the Master’s TARDIS and tries to repair his own, but the unit is still incompatible (keeping up the theme, as with the Monk’s TARDIS, that the Doctor’s is an older, out-of-date model)- still, as long as he has it, the Master is as stuck on this planet as he is. Meanwhile, the Master has fashioned a plastic daffodil replica that Farrel and a number of carnival-masked Autons begin to hand out on the streets, working from a large bus base-of-operations.

Investigating the death of Farrel, Sr. (whose name triggered something in Jo’s hypnosis-repressed memory), the Doctor discovers the doll and takes it for study due to its plastic nature. They also discover a leftover daffodil at the now-abandoned plastics factory. While trying to decipher the meaning of the gadgets, the Doctor receives a phone call from the Master- who uses Auton technology over the line to get the plastic phone cord to strangle the Doctor. The Brigadier cuts the phone line, disabling the signal, and saving the Doctor- while the Doctor’s Bunsen burner, used by Yates to make him and Jo some hot cocoa (that always seems to lead towards engagements in Doctor Who… could we be looking at a future couple? A book I recently read noted that Doctor Who was relatively absent of married couples, having none between Celestial Toymaker (Hartnell, Steven, and Dodo) and Fury from the Deep (Troughton, Jamie, and Victoria’s last serial together). While the New Series is finally premiering a married couple aboard the TARDIS (Note From Future Andrew: Yes, that was referring to Amy and Rory at the start of Series 6... I write these just a little while before I post them...) and Ian and Barbara were certainly implied, could we be looking at the first companions (sorta- the term is a little looser here in the non-TARDIS years) to actually get married in-series? That may be a lot to read into a cup of cocoa, but we shall see…), re-activates the murderous doll, which Yates is forced to shoot to pieces. Since good things and plastic trying to kill you always come in threes, a radio signal over the walkie-talkie activates the daffodil, which sprays a deadly shield of plastic over Jo’s mouth and nose, suffocating her- and accounting for a recent rash of suffocation deaths in the area. Fortunately, the Doctor manages to pry it off in time to save her life, and the two are able to intuit that the radio telescope will be used to activate them en masse… the deaths in the area were premature triggers from portable radio sources like theirs.

The Brigadier plans an aerial strike on the located Auton bus, but before this can be carried out, the Master breaks into the Doctor’s lab, demanding the dematerialization circuit- and when Jo blurts out the plan, takes the Doctor and Jo as hostages to his bus, in order to force the Brig to call off the air strike- which he does. The bound and captive Doctor uses his feet to manipulate the brake pedal, spelling out a Morse Code message to UNIT with the brake lights. Jo manages to escape her bonds and free the Doctor after the Master has left.

UNIT engages the Autons (led by Benton and Yates- they’re straddling the line between ‘Companion’ and ‘Jackie Tyler/Wilfred Mott/Mickey-the-Idiot’), while the Brig, Jo, and the Doctor ascend the radio tower. Once there, the Doctor convinces the Master that the Nestenes will turn on him and kill him, too, once they invade- and with his TARDIS in need of repair before it can leave, he can’t afford to be stuck on Earth during their invasion. The Master agrees, and he and the Doctor work together to reverse the signal, expelling the Nestenes into deep space, Moonbase-style.

The Master flees to the bus, but is cornered there by UNIT. He emerges, hands-up, but quickly draws a gun, and is shot down by UNIT. (I seem to be having to describe a lot of people getting shot dead in the last few serials- if this persists, I’ll have to come up with a few more colorful ways of saying it, lest it get repetitive!) However, as the Doctor fears, this was not the Master, but a mind-controlled Farrel in a plastic mask- an innocent pawn slain in the Master’s cruel game as he escapes in the bus. However, the Doctor has the last laugh- the dematerialization circuit he gave the Master at gunpoint was his own unit- the one Joe ruined with a fire-extinguisher. The Doctor still has the real circuit, and the Master is stranded on Earth- he can hide out with his working chameleon circuit, but he can’t leave. The Doctor is sure that they will match wits again, and he looks forward to the contest…

Review:

Terror of the Autons starts off Series 8 by throwing a series of milestones at us: a new companion, a new recurring villain, a new supporting character (Yates), a recurring supporting character (Benton) becoming an actual contracted-regular instead of an occasional guest, the first appearance of the Time Lords and a functioning TARDIS in color, and the last appearance of the Autons in the classic series. In fact, this serial is regarded as what's called a "gentle reboot." Not an out-and-out restart of the Pertwee era that says everything proceeding it didn't happen, but a restarting of nearly all elements to bring things to a new paradigm, a resetting of all elements to zero and a starting over, without denying the past that preceeded it. Just as Star Trek II doesn't deny the existence of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but still resets Kirk to a desk job, the Enterprise to someone else's hands, etc. and starts over as if from the beginning, so the new paradigm of the Doctor and Jo vs. the Master resets the Doctor, working for UNIT (and introducing new uniforms for them, the design that eventually became their classic look), to what could easily be the start, and then sets him off in this new direction.

Jo Grant has possibly the worst introduction a companion could ever ask for unless their name is Dodo. Her fire-extinguisher mistake is perhaps understandable, but having her ruin the Doctor's work through incompetence does not endear her to the audience, her absolute stupidity does nothing to further it, and the fact that she is outright declared to be here solely as the result of nepotism doesn't help, either. And then, she decends into the greatest stupidity on record for any companion ever by pointlessly blurting out to the Master about the airstrike... as some sort of tactical advantage...? Not sure at all why she did that, but it was utterly idiotic and very annoying. So, all-in-all, airhead Jo may be a good character- her heart seems to be in the right place- but her introductory serial seems to be doing everything it possibly can to bias the audience against her from the start; an odd creative choice. She can certainly fill the 'be dumb and require exposition/need rescuing' role that Liz failed in quite well. The one ray of light for her character comes in a later scene in which she is very upset, whining and carrying on- and someone tells her that she's acting like a child. She responds with incredible maturity- stopping short, considering, agreeing, and apologizing; a far better reaction than I would have were I upset and someone told me the same thing! This gave me hope for the future of her character beyond this rocky start.

Meanwhile, the Doctor sulks and defends being childish- but then, he has lots of great quotes in this serial. He’s also a clever investigator and a bit of an action hero with the bomb defusal. The brake light Morse Code was a thing of beauty, a very creatively written and extremely clever ploy- my compliments to the writers. Most significantly, he first suggests “Reversing the polarity” here, the other half of his famous catchphrase- but this time without the “Neutron flow” bit pioneered in the Silurian serial. Hopefully, soon, we shall hear the entire piece joined together…

Otherwise, the Doctor does rather annoy me a bit in his continued opposition of the millitary simply in order to oppose the military. His objections to the airstrike are completely unfounded- the plastic-animate Autons have distributed hundreds of deadly weapons and are capable of triggering them at any minute- there is no reason whatsoever that their destruction before they can act would be a bad thing; in fact, the only thing that makes the strike a bad plan at the last minute is the Doctor and Jo getting captured and placed into harm's way. The Doctor's earlier objections have no grounding and no merrit, and are thrown in just so that the Doctor can disparige violence once again. Like simillar counterpart in the New Series (David Tennant's insulting, shortsighted, and hypocrticial "You carry a gun- that makes you a bad guy in my book" to another UNIT soldier, for instance (funny how he never complains thus when visiting WWI, WWII, or being the coolest Doctors- Hartnell weilded a gun (while showing distaste for it), Matt Smith has used one, and Troughton was practically Rambo in Seeds of Death!)), this really irritates me, especially when done in such a clumsy, propaganda-style manner for no good reason other than to spread a self-important message. When it's organic to the story (say... *SHUDDER* Doctor Who and the Sillurians), fine. But when it's shoehorned into a story even when the military thing is also the logical and propper thing to do in order to save lives, then it just looks foolish and ticks me off. The knee-jerk response to the military actually being PRUDENT is getting annoying. Likewise, I can’t decide if the Doctor boiling away the contents of the defused bomb to keep UNIT from getting to it is wise, or his inner jerkish Time Lord showing through. Who is he to keep technology out of Earth’s hands? He didn’t seem to object to Earth getting new, advanced technology if it came from the frickin’ Silurians… Basically, though it is true that Earth doesn’t need another kind of bomb… that’s not really his call to make, it’s Earth’s. Perhaps it could have replaced nukes as a non-irradiating equivalent that would have ended nuclear waste, or been harnessed as a new and powerful energy source. It’s a little insulting (and continuing with the pointless anti-military diatribe new to this Doctor) to imply that he has to make that decision for us.

New (recurring) villain The Master is introduced here, played by Robert Delgado (born Roger Caesar Marius Bernard de Delgado Torres Castillo Roberto, who left a job at the bank to take up acting- and thank goodness he did!). He is an interesting villain, with a flair for hypnotism, a fatal shrinking gun, and as high (or higher) affinity for science as the Doctor. He is also stranded on Earth in a very logical way within the story, ensuring his presence as an ongoing villain. He has good dialogue and a strong presence, and I look forward to seeing more of him.

And then we have the Master's poor henchman in this serial. Poor fellow. He was just a pawn- we only saw a few seconds of him as himself, if that- and even when his colleague tried to snap him out of it, you got the sense that he could get no more than halfway there- the Master's brainwashing was that strong. (And apparently blinds both parties, if they didn't see Jo Grant's head sticking out a foot above those barrels until after they passed her...!) Still, one robotic scene aside, he was very interesting- passionately committed to his indoctrinated cause- not just a blank automotaun (Autonmoton?) carrying out orders, but a man not only whose mind and will were bent to the Master's use, but his personality and his passion, as well. This is new- typical hypnotism victims act unimaginatively and under duress in these kind of stories- but here, we see a kind of hypnotism that retains the ingenuity and willpower of the individual, just re-directing it to a new goal- dangerous indeed! While I predicted his decoy-mask end, I really pitied this man- he was a complete innocent in all of this. (As a side note, the carnival strong man under the Master's control was described as incredibly strong, but not talking much, and I sarcastically quipped while viewing “Oh, another Toberman.” Turns out it actually WAS Toberman- the same actor from Tomb of the Cybermen, typecast in a similar Earth-bound role that I am choosing to believe is Toberman’s distant ancestor).

Talking of villains, the Autons themselves are relegated to a bit more of a background presence because of the Master. We do hear a non-human-form Auton speak for the only time, get a really effective reveal of the false policemen (it made two of my three viewing companions gasp out loud in unison), and a great fight scene that includes a truly impressive (unintentionally so, as it got out of control) pel-mel tumble down a steep embankment that was truly a highlight of the episode.

Other effects of note were largely blue-screened in this serial, which seems to be turning into a Doctor Who staple. While a few of the effects demonstrate some terrible fringing and bleeding again, they overall work to create an effective sense of scale- you really believe that there is a tiny two-foot doll running around the set and interacting with people (pretty creepy in its own right), the standout effect of the episode. For the radio telescope (the Doctor and the Master have a final climactic confrontation on a radio telescope. Oh, the irony... such confrontations will not always work out well for you, Doctor!), while the locations on top of the catwalk never look real, the bluescreening provides a believable locale that doesn't feel studio bound (though the cartoon lightning is another story, triggering off an ending one part Seeds of Death and ALL PARTS the Moonbase, only cheaper, as we don't get to see the invading fleet repulsed into space this time). Even the scene in which a nervous henchman waits in the bus is noteworthy, as a bluescreened background is visible over his shoulder. Again, it didn't look real, but it impressed me with the work ethic, as it is a tiny, tiny patch- barely noticeable- that could easily have been covered up with framing or cheaped out with a false wall behind it- that the team went to all the effort of matting in a background in such a tiny window to try and sell the location is an impressive testament to the focus and commitment of the FX team.

As usual, we do still have a few moments of oddity. We get another Time Lord (an insufferable prig that cements my previous War Games impression that the Tme Lords are JERKS), followed by a bomb-dilema with probably the least well-thought-out solution ever presented to us on Doctor Who. Nearly any option would have been preferable, and just because the Doctor had nothing on-hand... contrived as it was, though, it featured a nice stunt (a truly impressive dive)- though it was outshadowed by the later, more-impressive Auton stunt. 

And the flower-masks... dissolved by carbon-dioxide from the lungs, almost instantly???? That is so completely illogical and stupid- the trapped breath in the wearer's mouth would immediately cause the mask to dissolve within seconds, making suffocation impossible! What were they thinking? That's like trying to drown a man by holding him under with paper-mache hands that instantly dissolve in water! It was very poorly explained and executed, and makes the whole premise completely absurd. And doesn’t the conjecture of the Nestene Consciousness’ natural form as an octopus-like creature, while consistent with Spearhead From Space, mean that the New Series’ premiere “Rose” got it totally wrong, and wasn’t even trying? If so, it’s really rather disappointing that show-runner Russel T. Davies didn’t at least TRY to match the descriptions given here.

And is there any reason that the inflatible chair seemed so cool when it was clearly just a blowup chair being inflated? Because it wasn't supposed to be, I suppose? For whatever reason... it was pretty cool.

Overall, despite a few odd complaints of stupid plot points or anti-millitary stances, and an extremely un-promising companion introduction, this was a fun serial. It kept a good pace and held my attention, had a fun and memorable villain, and lots of witty dialogue.

Great moments:

The animate doll, the first appearance of the Master, the quarry fight, the opening, the bomb dive, and the finale.

Rating:

I give this one 5 out of 5 Tumbling Autons; I wouldn't necessarily call it a classic like Keys of Marinus or The Aztecs, but definitely a milestone, extremely entertaining, great characters, good writing, and a pace that didn't flag.

Dating:

Nothing noteworthy, though the technology demonstrated seemed to be distinctly contemporary and not futuristic. I’m arbitrarily calling this one a 1971 vote.

Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death

Serial Title: Ambassadors of Death

Series: 7

Episodes: 7

Doctor: Jon Pertwee

Companions: Liz Shaw (Caroline John), Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart (Nicholas Courtney)

Synopsis:

Britain’s space program’s third ship to Mars (you remember when that happened, right?) is nearing its intended target- Britain’s second ship to Mars, which has been in trouble and communicating erratically. In mission control, that genocidal maniac the Brigadier (okay, henceforth, how about we pretend that abomination never happened so that I don’t have to hate the Brig for life?) watches as the rendezvous goes horribly wrong, and the capsules are cut off by a terrible noise. The Doctor soon arrives with Liz, having heard the sound on the live TV broadcast- when it comes again, he identifies it as a message of some sort, of non-terrestrial origin. And what’s more- it’s being answered. The signal is triangulated to a nearby warehouse- and when UNIT investigates, they find themselves engaged in a running firefight with plainclothes military troops. Meanwhile, in the space center, technician Taltalian pulls a gun on the Doctor and attempts to steal the recording of the message the Doctor has. He’s thwarted, and runs off.

The capsule, Recovery 7, returns to Earth, and UNIT escorts it back to the center when they discover that it’s locked from the inside and they cannot get in. However, a military raid by more of the plainclothes troops steals the capsule away. The Doctor gives chase to the truck (lorry) in Bessie and manages to get the capsule back. However, when the capsule is opened, it is revealed to be empty, save for a tape recorder playing back faked recordings of the astronaut’s voices over the radio. The interior is also highly irradiated…

Army General Carrington has the three space-suited figures, removed during the raid (he’s been responsible for the military actions thus far) and are irradiating them further; as per him, they need radiation to survive. Sir James Quinlan, Minister for Technology (FOR Technology, mind you, not ‘of’- clearly his job is to represent the province of ‘Technology’ in parliament and govern it wisely) introduces the Doctor to Carrington, who feeds him a false story about a contagious form of radiation that the astronauts had been infected with, necessitating their enforced quarantine.

However, the three suited figures are abducted by a violent criminal that kills the scientists attending them- and he himself is found, dead and irradiated, in a gravel pit sometime later. Someone has abducted the astronauts without a trace and killed all the witnesses! In fact, this man is Lennox, a disgraced Cambridge professor (I sense Liz back story coming up!), who maintains them with high radiation. His partner, a thug named Reegan, abducts Liz to assist Lennox. Taltalian also works for him, and sets a bomb to kill the Doctor- but is himself killed by it, the timer having been set to ‘0,’ despite what he’d been told- another witness eliminated.

One of the astronauts appears at the space center, demonstrating a deadly and lethal explosive touch. Quinlan is killed, and when the Brigadier tries to intervene, the astronaut is proved to be bulletproof. It escapes… and so does Lennox, back at the secret holding cell. These astronauts are not astronauts, but alien beings who have taken their place. Liz and Lennox have built a device capable of communicating with them (though not understanding them) and forced one of them into this raid under threat of cutting off the radiation… they themselves under threat from Reegan to accomplish this. Now, Lennox’s conscience has got the better of him, and he defects to UNIT for protective custody… but there are agents on the inside, and one slips a radioactive canister into Lennox’s cell, killing him in a fit of poetic justice before he can testify.

The Doctor decides that the answer to all of this madness must lie with the other capsule (the one Recovery 7 was initially sent to rendezvous with) still up in orbit, having been towed there by the recovered capsule. Recovery 7 is fitted to a new rocket, and the Doctor decides to take it up using the new M3 variant fuel, a powerful accelerator. Reegan attempts to sabotage the launch by flooding the tanks with M3 variant (instead of a small additive amount as planned), making the launch far more powerful than anticipated and killing the Doctor with the increased G-forces. The Brigadier manages to drive Reegan off before he can finish (though he gets away); the launch is rough, but the Doctor survives.

As he maneuvers to investigate the other capsule, however, both ships are dwarfed by a gigantic alien craft that takes him aboard. There, he finds the three missing astronauts, in hypnosis to believe that they’re simply in post-mission quarantine back on Earth. The aliens of the craft demand the return of their ambassadors on Earth within one day, or they will destroy the planet. These ambassadors (the three in the suits) were sent to Earth to broker a treaty between this unnamed race and mankind, but their abduction has seriously jeopardized this agreement.

Immediately upon landing, the Doctor is abducted by Reegan (WHAT NINCOMPOOP IS OVERSEEING SECURITY FOR UNIT?!?!?!) and taken to Liz, and to his employer- Reegan is working for Carrington. As it turns out, Carrington was an astronaut on the first Mars mission, where they met this alien race- not native to Mars, but likewise exploring the planet. (Lucky for him he didn’t run into any Ice Warriors…). In what was meant to be a peaceful contact, one of the aliens returned the handshake of Carrington’s partner, Jim Daniels- and the unexpected explosive touch killed Daniels instantly and gruesomely. The traumatized Carrignton, convinced that these beings were of the purest evil, then falsely accepted their sincere apologies and made arrangements for them to travel to Earth and sign a treaty (the second capsule’s mission all along, which only seemed to go haywire because only Carrington knew about the planned loss of communication and astronaut-swap) all under false pretense; believing this treaty to only be a prelude to invasion, Carrington laid these plans to capture the ambassadors and coerce them into violence (what he believes to be their true nature anyway), revealing their ‘hostile intentions’ to the world at large and allowing him to wage war against the aliens, rather than letting the world be ‘duped’ by their peaceful intentions.

Carrington takes one of the Ambassadors to wreak havoc at mission control on live television, planning to unmask their hideous appearance and galvanize the world against them. The Doctor and Liz (kept on as replacements for Lennox) are put to work on an improved communications device- the Doctor instead rigs up a morse code transmitter and sends an SOS to UNIT under the guise of testing the alien translation device. The Brigadier- arrested by Carrington for opposing his insane agenda- pulls off an impressive escape, and frees a handful of his UNIT men. Short on transport, they ride to the rescue in Bessie and shoot their way in, arresting Reegan and freeing the Doctor and Liz. The entire group races to mission control with the Ambassadors, where the Doctor uses their impervious nature to smash through Carrington’s troops and demolish his defenses. Carrington is forced to stand down, and is taken under arrest. The last ambassador is rescued, and the three are returned to their people in exchange for the astronauts- the Doctor remembering NOT to shake their hands as they depart.

Review:

The Ambassadors of Death was, perhaps, slower than it ought to be. Don’t get me wrong; it was a good conspiracy/spy/mystery story, with plenty of espionage, and the space program junkie in me simultaneously laughed and lauded the portrayal of a British Mars Landing program in the 1980s. The Doctor as an astronaut? Awesome. The Brigadier rocking some battle scenes? Right on, man! Mysterious signal triangulation? I’m down with that! 2-3 episodes shorter? Absolutely warranted. A little more abbreviated, and this one would have been spot on. As it is, its spy-thriller, government-conspiracy-you-can’t-trust-anyone, and ethereal ET-like strange alien visitors flavoring (complete with great ethereal music for the latter) are very strong and have a lot going for them; it’s just not as excellent as it could’ve been with some flab trimmed. And UNIT doesn’t look terribly competent between ignoring a prisoner with information and then letting him be killed while in custody (but hey, look, major Benton! He will grow in importance in the series as time progresses, I’m told), and the warehouse battle in which they make the defenders of the Chateau in The War Games look like a mash-up of the A-team and the Expendables being led by Rambo and executing a plan co-authored by general Patton and Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Though, to be fair, it wasn’t bad UNIT tactics, just bad scriptwriting and filming. UNIT soldiers were behind cover, with machine guns, and military training- losing against a mongrel mutt squad comprised of street-clothes soldier and petty crooks, firing hand guns from behind… nothing. They were standing right out in the open. Yet half a dozen UNIT men fall- mostly from suddenly standing up and running straight at the enemy, chest thrust forward and gun pointed at the ground, until they were killed, in the standard movie nonsensical soldier-death move- before a single one of their enemies is brought down. If they’d just staged things in the reverse- UNIT with no cover, the mongrel-mix behind boxes with superior weapons, it might’ve been believable. Likewise, the ridiculous bungling of the Mexican standoff between the Brigadier and an enemy leader- in which a soldier sneaks up behind him with a heavy swinging weight, and somehow in the ensuing scuffle manages to hit and knock over the Brigadier, disarming him of his pistol, while the barely winged enemy holds onto his with ease, putting both of them at his mercy, is just plain SAD. Yes, it’s necessary for the surprise moment where he drops his gun and surrenders to them despite having both of them unarmed and at his mercy, but this surprise turnabout could’ve been set up with much better staging that doesn’t make UNIT look like the squad drilled out of the Three Stooges for being too clumsy. All that said- and the major complaint (other than the pacing) for the serial now aside, the Brigadier almost singlehandedly makes up for this with an awesome stalwart display of fighting machismo and skill (if I used the term Bada… errr… Bad-bum, then it would most certainly apply here)- firing his pistol thrice- straight out to his left, forward, and out to his right, and apparently felling one man with each shot, sending the first tumbling down the stairs in-frame behind him. Likewise, his escape from armed guards and fighting prowess in the final episode’s combat really suggests that the rest of UNIT is just slowing him down. So, a bad episode for UNIT’s competency, but a great one for the Brig.

There are a lot of little bits and notes, so forgive me if I jump around a bit more than usual. Let’s start with the visuals…

The models are all very good. Nicely detailed, Apollo-mission looking (not sure if they’re originals, kit-bashes, or just straight-up builds of an off-the-shelf-but-somewhat-inaccurate Apollo command/service module model), which is a major plus to me.

That said… the capsule wobble visibly on their strings in space, something that there’s no excuse for in 1970. The rocket liftoff has a terrible animated flame and really stiff, fake-looking 70s bluescreening that was roughly on par with the Star Wars Holiday Special- it somehow manages not just to be fake, but ultra-fake. (Though it’s an awesome sequence and they did a great job with the Doctor in G-forces) The main screen in mission control, though nicely done, suffers from major blue screen fringing and breaking up around the railings, giving it away rather plainly. On the plus side, the mini pop-up screen with a venetian blind transition on is executed flawlessly. Also excellent is the alien spaceraft model (if a bit 2D-cutout-moving-around-the-screen looking, it’s still a very cool design that reminds me of a cousin of the later Sycorax ship in the New Series Christmas Invasion) and the model of the interior was very, very well realized. The bluescreening of the Doctor walking along the corridor was flawlessly done for the time, and while obvious as bluescreening to modern eyes, it holds up incredibly well for a period effect, and the angle of plane-matching up to the floor is spot-on. This is easily the best effect I’ve seen in Classic Who thus far, and creates a fantastic, expansive alien environment. 

Not so fantastic? The alien’s killer touch, which is just a flash-frame of red using that paintbrush from MS Paint that has pixelly starburst coming off the sides, like it’s supposed to be a spray or something. Except, you know… done long before MS Paint was around. Still, it looks cheap. Practical effects for the aliens are FAR better- excellent (only occasionally glimpsed, heightening the alien feeling) makeup, practical explosions well-timed and well-filmed, a seamless telekinetically-lifting-the-gate effect at the end… these are all pulled off fantastically, and really sell the alien ambassadors. And one last practical effect, the James-Bond-ish cargo truck (errr… Lorry) that changes it’s plates and then it’s sidewalls… doesn’t come off quite so well, as the jump-cut transition tricks also have significant background changes that ruin the effect. (Plus, it’s never explained in the end… is this army technology…? Alien…? How did they change the appearance of the truck instantaneously? Do they have holograms in this world, and we’re never told about it?)  Much better jump-cut effects accompany the Liz/Doctor time displacement scene, and the near-perfect ‘displacement’ scene with the tape recording, which looks FANTASTIC- a testament to Pertwee’s miming ability, it really creates a believable effect of Pertwee simply pulling the disc out of the air. Major kudos. Likewise, good miming work for Bessie’s ‘Anti-theft device’ (a fun and very whimsical Doctor scene, as detailed below).

And lastly, on a visual note of another kind… this is the first of Third Doctor lost episodes. However, unlike the Hartnell and Troughton missing episodes in which all video is lost, only the color prints were lost for some Third Doctor stories. This means that the serial fluctuates back and forth from black and white to color, sometimes fading mid-scene, often cutting disorientingly along with a change of location- we just pop from a black and white scene in a field to a sudden color interior; it makes for a very odd viewing experience. It doesn’t affect the watchability, just makes things slightly surreal. (And just this month, the new colorized version is being released on DVD at long last!)

This was also a strong episode for the audio… sort of. It premieres the ‘rising whine’ sound that any viewers of the New Series will know always leads into the opening credits and ending credits, a high-pitch piercing… I don’t know, it’s too sharp a sound to call a whine. Let’s call it a… ‘Pirr.’ You know, like Christopher Eccleston regenerates into David Tennant, and he says a great line about new teeth, and then: “Where were we? Ah, yes… Barcelona.” Pirrrrrrrrr… bad-dur-um-dum, Dun-dun-duh-duh-duh, dun-dun-duh-duh-duh, dun-dun-duh-duh-duh, DUN-dun-duh-duh-duh… whooooo-eeeee-ooooooo, weeee-ooooo-oooo… dum dum dum, DUMMMMMM-dum dum… you know, the ending credits music? Yeah, it’s that sound. That totally starts here. (Who fans call it 'the scream.') Unless they changed it for the DVD or something. The next serial will tell. As does the clever practice of cutting straight to the credits, no fade (We’ve gone from ‘Hold awkwardly on a long shot while next episode’s title is superimposed over the actors holding position for way too long’ to ‘hold the shot for too long and fade out on it’ to ‘run end credits over the last shot and fade it out pretty quickly’ to ‘awkward half-second fade to black, then fade in the credits’, and now ‘jump cut from cliffhanger moment directly to credit title card’, which is very effective at increasing the cliffhanger tension.) And the practice of doing the opening credits, showing the cliffhanger recap, then cutting to the serial title, and finally to the resolution- a nice solution for the format. (Sadly, retrospect has demonstrated that this was a one-time experiment in this serial- a pity, as I like this format best of all! Still, the next serial will go right back to the ‘opening sequence followed by a long title card and credits showing the serial title and then finally cut back into the cliffhanger from last week and its resolution’ format. Rats!)

(Speaking of the aforementioned cliffhangers, they have these down pat- the Third Doctor serials have had some of the best cliffhangers I’ve seen. The end of Episode Two, as the Doctor spouts nonsense phrases into the radio and receives the same static replies from the astronauts, the camera dollying in on his face, his expression growing more tense, the music building in a slow, low rumble, until his head snaps up and he tersely announces “All right, cut it open!” in almost a cold fury, is a sight to behold- magnificent in that it’s not a cliffhanger from danger or a sudden revelation, but simply from the tension of the situation and fantastic acting. A description is guaranteed not to do it justice- do yourself a favor and go see it in-context! I literally exclaimed out loud when I saw it. (Note from Future Andrew: And essentially a cliffhanger unrivaled until Colin Baker almost 20 seasons later- and even then, more or less a tie! This is one of the best cliffhangers of all time!))

Also, this serial is notable for its music. Sometimes good… and sometimes utterly horrible. What’s with the jaunty organ music for all of the space capsule shots during a tense rendezvous? Seriously, what is UP with that? Tonally inept, to say the least, but unintentionally hilarious in its juxtaposition. Most of the score falls into this so-good-it’s-bad category; it’s not bad music, just bad music for the scene it’s attached to.  Still, parts of it are quite good, such as the aforementioned ethereal ET/Mac and Me/etc. theme for the aliens, which is otherworldly and slightly magical- the perfect ‘aliens with incredible powers walk among us’ wonderment for this story.

Then, there are stunts and performances:

During the bizarre assault on UNIT, we are treated to a truly cool helicopter sequence (the Jihad has ended! Hoorah!) in which a UNIT man tries to break inside, riding on the strut before being thrown off- something I can’t see BWW accomplishing on its budget!

The Time Displacement bit at the beginning, though a little silly, is a fun little bit to remind us that Time/Space travel haven’t left us for good, just taken a little vacation. Nice touch!

The Liz chase in a water treatment plant… or park… or something… was well done, if a little clumsily choreographed. It was fun. Likewise, while there’s nothing especially standout about the assault on the fuel depot, it was nicely executed with some good stunts and a solid ending chase/finale.

Whether intentional ironic humor or unintentional bad writing humor, I liked the running gag that the order to shut the gates always comes to the checkpoint seconds after they’ve waved the vehicle-to-be-stopped through.

And the best bits were definitely in the last episode- the Doctor’s gambit of pretending to build an alien comm. device and building an SOS telegraph instead (a signal my lovely wife recognized immediately) was intelligent and funny, a deftly written twist subtly conveyed and brimming with humor; major kudos. And in the much less subtle, brazenly comedic vein, the notion of having all of the transport seized, followed by the suggestion “Well, sir, there’s always the Doctor’s car…” The expression on Lethbridge-Stewart’s face, followed by the immediate jump cut to armed UNIT cavalry riding to the rescue in Bessie, was absolutely and utterly priceless. (Secondary kudos to acknowledging the fact that having your car all shot up in the escape might adversely affect its performance!)

And last in the potpourri, a few conceptual complaints…

So, this is UK Mission Control. Because England has always had such great space ambitions. Now, I know we find out this is hardly their first launch- 3^rd at least heading to Mars- but, really? Three people in one room is their mission control? If you watch Apollo 13 or From the Earth To The Moon, you see row after row of technicians at computer stations- 3-4 banks of them, each with a different section to monitor… and what you don’t see is the entire rooms of people receiving the same telemetry, working for each of those men and communicating by radio. Each of the dozens of controllers at Houston is like the Electoral College member for a US state- one person representing many, many more. It takes hundreds to man a rocket flight, and here they have… like, 3? Then again, perhaps that’s how it works when it’s modeled after a Parliamentary system?

And they’re even more short-staffed, because one of the three is a certified IDIOT- he continues to insist that the SPECIFIC SIGNAL WITH PICTOGRAPHIC DATA ENCODED IN IT THAT REPEATS EXACTLY AT SPECIFIC INTERVALS is random static. So, not exactly a rocket scientist, then… which is precisely whom you would want to have staffing mission control.

Oh, and they only have one computer? A singular one, so that sabotaging it will put a serious dent in the investigation? I know at the time computers were rare, but this is MISSION CONTROL FOR A MARS MISSION. Surely there must be more than one computer? It’s certainly too technologically early for a virus to be on the network…

They also decided to go Russian-style and have the capsule land on land, out in the middle of a field. Not really a complaint, just an interesting note. And they did remember the Service module/capsule difference, showing a Service module in orbit, but just a capsule on land, implying an orbital jettison. So, points for that. That the hatch was sealed and couldn’t be opened without cutting through with a welding torch? And they just had to put it on a truck (tumbling around the astronauts inside who-knows-how-badly) and haul it back to base (Mission control, the launch facility, forensics, and astronaut training seem to be all combined into one facility- they weren’t in real life) to do anything with it? This is almost as poor design as the controls (see below); in real life, capsule hatches were sealed from the outside, and I’m pretty sure designed to be opened from the outside in case of emergency. You know, in case the astronauts are incapacitated, you’d kind of want help to be able to get to them? Unless they’re saying the aliens sealed it in a way it wasn’t designed to be?

Finally, the interior design of the capsule as the Doctor is preparing to go is simply atrocious; the astronaut cannot physically reach the controls without unbuckling, getting up, and walking over to them- they are far out of arm’s reach, and impossible to get to while on their back. This is the equivalent of making your airline cockpit out of a stretch limo cabin, with the pilot seated at the back, and the control stick on the front wall, so that while seated, the pilot cannot actually fly the plane. It’s so absurd that words fail me on how absurd it is. Oh, wait… as absurd as UNIT’s combat skills in the first few episodes. Yep, that about describes it.

Anyhow, gripes aside, we did have a wide cast of memorable characters.

They range from the minor (the three hypnotized astronauts who can’t see their true surroundings are effectively creepy just for how normal they’re acting in bizarre surroundings), to small (the crazy bearded guy who sabotages the computer and threatens the Doctor at gunpoint- and then meets a pretty impressive explosive end, and the poor incompetently-handled defecting scientist who knew Liz, who more or less dies from UNIT neglect) to major… like our crazy general.

While a bit of a cliché, he works as a character- someone who saw a best friend killed instantly and brutally by a single touch of an alien being, who now wants to defend Earth from them. His methods get a little over-the-top and start to fly in the face of all logic, but that’s what obsession does, and his motivation for that obsession seems reasonable (I think this is what the Doctor says he ‘understands’ at the end). What makes him so unhingedly-disturbing toward the end is just how normal he can act sometimes; there’s no clue to his madness until he completely wigs out. He makes a good villain, feeling only slightly stale in ‘stock character’ terms, but having fairly good presence for the series. His thugs are a little more bland and unremarkable, antagonistic enough that you’re glad to see them get their comeuppance, but not terribly memorable.

The Brigadier has little to do until the last chapter or two, bungling things pretty badly near the start (okay, he was up against a conspiracy, but he shouldn’t have neglected a defecting prisoner with valuable information so long, especially when potential informants have been getting assassinated so commonly in the last day or two). Still, he proves to be the ONLY competent UNIT soldier in the first battle, saves the Doctor’s rocket (partially), and really takes charge, putting on an impressive one-man show of a daring escape and strong combat in the final chapter. Not so much character development in this one, unfortunately- something badly needed after his character was run into the ground in the Silurian serial. Hopefully some needed character development will come his way soon. Regardless, he seems mostly back to his Spearhead-self; if a little less open-minded yet again, he is at least fully behind the Doctor.

Liz is likewise well-served in ‘moments,’ but not as much in character; however, her dynamic varies by having about 1/5 character development, 2/5 action, and 2/5… absence. In other words, a greater proportion of character-moments-to-memorable-scenes, but at the cost of having less time in the serial overall. Regardless, in addition to a good chase, some decent ‘convict the bad guy you used to know who has a conscience and just needs a little nudge to return to the side of good so play on his conscience with repeated pleas while you’re both captured and working under the nose of the bad guys’ scenes (a cinematic convention first designed by a Sir Lawrence Wicktenshire in 1653 whilst out pheasant hunting, passed on to his heirs in the hope that cinema would one day be invented to employ his idea to proper usage, and imported to the Americas from the Wicketnshire estate by Charlie Chaplain in 1909, for the sum of $32.97, the modern equivalent of 1.7 Billion dollars.), Liz also has a number of good moments with the Doctor. Aside from the slightly silly slapstick time-displacement bit, there’s a really sweet moment near the beginning, when the Doctor is glued to the TV despite himself, watching the Martian-orbit rendezvous, when Liz brings him over something to drink and joins him, very much like a parent or sibling looking out for his health. It’s a little thing, but implies a great depth of relationship (that we haven’t really seen evidenced or warranted based on only 2 previous serials, but let’s not let that quibble stand in the way of sentiment) that really nuances this Doctor-companion (or, in this case, Doctor-assistant) relationship.

And, of course, the Doctor himself. He is a jack-of-all-trades in this one; brave, confident, gallant, diplomatic, authoritative, clever- a well-rounded action hero. He is in-control (with a fantastic scene involving Bessie’s anti-theft device in which he single-handedly thwarts the bad guys, leaves them helpless, rescues the space capsule, and saves the day- when an entire UNIT battalion couldn’t accomplish the same), canny (with his disappearing tape trick, for instance, as well as his masterful SOS gambit), funny (zooming in with Bessie right under a closing security gate, and arriving into the control room insisting to someone off-screen “Well, I simply don’t HAVE a pass, my good man- I don’t believe in them!”), brave (action-hero-ing it up by becoming an astronaut), investigative, cautious, and friendly (in his investigation of the alien craft and handling of its passengers), compassionate (not only to the captured ambassadors, but also to the soldiers he warns out of their way during the ending siege, and even to the poor, deluded villain at the end), and has several powerful acting moments- especially the intensity of the aforementioned tour-de-force cliffhanger “Cut it open!”

Overall, Ambassadors of Death (a great title) is a lot of fun and good moments stretched out just a little too long. I can’t point to any particular elements as extraneous- perhaps all of the cuts back to the villains before Liz joins them?- it just felt a little padded. Not to War Games levels, certainly; I just felt the pacing could be a bit tighter. That said, it has a number of great set pieces, and plenty of elements that make it worth watching.

Great moments:

The launch and alien spacecraft, the improvised SOS, the Brig’s escape, Bessie to the rescue, the Brig’s pistol-prowess, the ending assault on mission control, and UNIT to the rescue… in Bessie.

Rating:

3.75 (or three and three-quarters) out of 5 “Shoes!” for this serial (I am fairly sure that most of my shoes for the last decade have been worn to the point of being ‘three-quarter shoes’ before I replaced them), which contains a number of 4-star pieces, it’s just a little… slow. Even so, the cliffhangers alone make it well worth checking out.

Dating:

No concrete numbers for this serial, but the presence of a UK space program and the antiquity of Morse Code suggests a more futuristic ‘1980s’ time period far more than it does a contemporary 1970 setting. So, this is the first that really supports a ‘near future’ date in tone- though perhaps it simply takes place a decade after the last one, explaining why the events of the wretched Silurians serial have so little impact in this story.