Having an alien invasion
story like The Ambassadors of Death
is an interesting idea as it plays on the fears of bacteria from space causing
instant death to the human race. That’s
why David Whitaker wrote the Ambassadors as aliens that could kill you with a
single touch, and the idea feels very much of its time. The story however does something very
interesting in the fact that it is a story that plays on those fears and the
dying fears of the Cold War which is a very interesting way to have the story
go on and on for seven episodes without getting really boring. Yes this one is one of the Season Seven
stories with seven episodes, but it’s often regarded as the weakest of the
season. I’d argue that is a false claim
as while it isn’t like the other three stories in the season, that fact and a
change of pace doing Doctor Who as an homage to Quatermass, would make it the best of the season if it wasn’t for
the fact it came right before Inferno.
The story involves the
recovery of Mars Probe 7, a spaceship that landed on the surface of the red
planet, lost contact with Britain, and then six months later manually took
off. This is all set up given in
exposition in Episode 1 in a pretty clever, if a little forced way by a
reporter from the BBC reporting on the story.
It does feel a bit awkward when starting the story, but the story gets
on track with the first episode being an episode of intrigue about what’s going
on with the astronauts and what the messages being sent to Earth in radio
signals actually mean. Episode 1 has its
highlight in the action of UNIT soldiers in an abandoned warehouse where
Michael Ferguson gives his best directed scene for the show and it’s Nicholas
Courtney’s time to shine as the Brigadier.
The pacing of the first two episodes creates great tension in the viewer
as it turns out there are people interested in getting Recovery 7 and the
astronauts inside ending Episode 2 in its cliffhanger. The cliffhanger is just one line from the Doctor
saying to cut open the capsule, but the way it is directed is perfect as you
have Van Lyden’s, the astronaut tasked with recovering the two other
astronauts, saying in a calm voice they aren’t cleared for reentry to the
atmosphere yet and the other actors’ performances, Jon Pertwee in particular,
give the tension a rise as cuts come rapidly and tension feels right climaxing
in the closing credits. Talking of the
credits this story does experiment with the cliffhanger repeat by having the
titles play up until the Doctor Who title, repeating the cliffhanger, then
showing THE AMBASSADORS, pause OF DEATH with a sting, the author and
episode number, then on with the episode.
It wouldn’t work with every story, but for this one it actually does
work pretty well to get the point across as to what they’re trying to
communicate.
Episode 3 and Episode 4
are really when the plot thickens and the astronauts with the death touch make
their first appearance and are presented as villains. They only seem to want to kill and make for a
real threat, but only Episode 4 has a lot of astronaut action, with Episode 3
trying to get the Doctor and Liz off the case of the astronauts. The Doctor comments it’s a case of the right
hand working behind the left hand, but it goes deeper than that. It’s actually Liz Shaw who is the one who
looks into all the things, and while she gets herself captured by the villains
of the story, who are using the astronauts to kill people. The scenes with Liz in the bunker with
Lennox, a misguided scientist played by Cyril Shaps, are great a we see that
Lennox is just terrified of getting in trouble.
His eventual fate in the story is gruesome as he is killed by radiation
in a locked UNIT cell, which is a hard scene to watch as you feel sorry for the
guy. Ralph Cornish should also be mentioned because he is the everyman of the
story, really only caring if the astronauts are safe, but still finds a way to
care about others. He is against the
Doctor’s idea that he could be sent up as he is used to excessive G-force. The cliffhanger to Episode 3 and Episode 4
are both highlights as one has Liz in complete peril, while the other has an
astronaut killing one of the people in lined with the villains of the story. They are both great because for once they
were able to cut the film at the right moment as they could cut away to titles
before the resolution in the next week’s filming. It just allows it to work well.
Episode 5, Episode 6, and
Episode 7 are the conclusion to the story and if there is one problem, it’s
that Episode 6 and Episode 7 could have been cut back quite a lot and merged
into one. This is the only real problem
with the story as Episode 6 is a bit of a run around when it comes to the
bunker while the Doctor is returning from space and having a liaison with the
aliens. Jon Pertwee has his best
material of the story here as he acts like he’s in space and shows why his
Doctor, while not opposed to violence will go for the peaceful route whenever
possible. He explains Earth’s situation
to the astronauts and while they are still threatening to destroy the Earth,
they are justified. Episode 5 is tense
as the Doctor is going up in the rocket and Episode 7 is tense as the story is
wrapping up, but it doesn’t really have Episode 6 to do much outside the scenes
with the aliens. I really do like these
as the story is a great conclusion, but a bad penultimate episode.
To summarize, The Ambassadors of Death is a real
underrated gem overall from the already brilliant Season Seven. The acting is great and the characters are
great even if it was written by four people before being sent to
broadcast. The only problem in the story
is that Episode 6 of the story has very little going for it after the first ten
to twelve minutes when the Doctor gets back to Earth which could have used its
time better to keep the rushed conclusion have felt much better than it did in
the broadcast version of the story. Oh
and the recolonization efforts while not perfect, they work well and are some
of the best. 93/100.
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