Wednesday, December 7, 2016

The Ambassadors of Death by: David Whitaker, Trevor Ray, Malcolm Hulke, and Terrance Dicks directed by: Michael Ferguson: Space Control, Can You Clear Us For Reentry? We Aren't Cleared for Reentry

The Ambassadors of Death stars Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, Caroline John as Liz Shaw, and Nicholas Courtney as Brigadier Lethebridge-Stewart with John Levene as Sergeant Benton, John Abernari as General Carrington, Ronald Allen as Ralph Cornish, and Alien Voices by Peter Halliday.  It was written by David Whitaker and the uncredited Trevor Ray, Malcolm Hulke, and Terrance Dicks, and directed by Michael Ferguson, with Terrance Dicks as Script Editor and Barry Letts as Producer.  It was originally broadcast on Saturdays from 21 March to 2 May 1970 on BBC1.

 

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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