There’s something about a
story where someone is changed from a good person into something completely
monstrous that fascinates the mind. It
is the changing of humanity, which is seen as inherently good, into their darker
side. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a novel that
explores this in detail, but Doctor Who has actually tackled at least the
concept of an alien masquerading as a human, but The Seeds of Doom goes in depth into the idea by taking inspiration
from The Thing from Another World and
the John Campbell novella Who Goes There? The story does this for the alien featured in
this story, the Krynoids, and has the first two episodes of the story being the
reworking of the source material into a Doctor Who context, but the final four
episodes being a tense action story set at a British mansion where a madman has
stolen the Krynoid pod and allows it to germinate, and infect one of his
lackeys. It is a horror movie with
deaths that aren’t bloody, but hit hard as the strength of the characters are
what institutes the fear along with the tension brought around from the script.
The story opens in
Antarctica, and to be honest the model work to establish that this is
Antarctica and the quarry used to do much of the filming looks really
good. The lighting is really what makes
you feel like these segments work, which combined with the fake snow almost
makes you feel the cold. The transition
into the studio bound sets of the Antarctic base also does feel very cramped
and very lived in. The scenes of the
scientists just examining the pod have the sense of foreboding that while they
have the best of intentions in advancing science, they’re poking a sleeping
giant and it is the fact that they meddle that Winlett gets infected and we deal
with the first Krynoid. The Doctor
really doesn’t get involved in events until halfway through Part One when
Winlett is being taken over by the Krynoid.
The drive of the first episode is to see if they can save Winlett. It’s the episode that shows off the scientist
characters of Stevenson and Moberley as played by Hubert Rees and Michael
McStay respectively. They both are
working to save their friend and Stevenson in particular is the one who cares
the most for his friend. The Doctor
doesn’t take any of their excuses and is there to get the job done, while he
wants to save Winlett, he knows it most likely will end in Winlett’s
death. The scene where they suggest
chopping off Winlett’s arm is dripping with atmosphere as they are going to go
through with it. The cliffhanger, while
a standard monster reveals, also reveals that there is no hope for Winlett, he
is lost.
Part Two of the story is
the conclusion of the Antarctica story as the Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Stevenson
go out to track down the Krynoid.
They’re scenes that almost take a back seat to Keeler and Scorby, two
henchmen to Harrison Chase come calling to the base and strongarm the Doctor
and Sarah Jane into revealing where the second pod is located. This episode in general is where we really
get to see what Keeler, played by Mark Jones, is like. We feel for him as he’s just doing his job
and not wanting to get anyone hurt which is noble. He’s your typical coward for the episode but
outside of Keeler, this episode is there just to push the plot along. It is a testament to the direction of Douglas
Camfield however that the episode feels so tense, as it is only twenty-five
minutes long, the tension makes the pace almost go slower. This isn’t a flaw, but it is interesting to
note as you are on the edge of your seat when things get tough as the Krynoid
has tremendous power at its disposal, Scorby and Keeler set a bomb, and the
base blows up in the face of everything.
Part Three is more of a
traditional Part One for the second storyline working around the mansion owned
by madman millionaire Harrison Chase.
This is really the episode to focus on Richard Dunbar, played by Kenneth
Gilbert, and Sir Colin Thackeray played by Michael Barrington. Thackeray as a character is the straight man
to the comedic side of Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor. This story sees the Doctor as manic and off
the cuff as he’s cracking jokes one minute and absolute serious fear the next
minute. This story has some of the best
lines for the Doctor with gems like “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had perfect pitch”
and “What do you do for an encore, Doctor? I win.” Baker just has perfect timing in the
story. Dunbar is also an interesting
character for the story as he really embodies the idea of greed. He sells the human race out for the money
involved in it. He tells Chase about the
pods in the Antarctic and is leaking information. For this he gets himself killed by the
Krynoid in Part Four.
The cliffhanger to Part
Three is probably the most exciting with Sarah Jane being held down by Chase as
the Krynoid pod begins to open. Part
Four gets her out of it of course with the Doctor crashing through the roof,
but it at least gives me an opportunity to talk about Sarah Jane Smith. Elisabeth Sladen was always the actress
perfect for the role. She’s got this
great chemistry with Tom Baker and is the definition of a great companion. She’s the one that’s trying to get things
done and goes a bit in over her head, so is captured. She feels human and
Sladen exudes this warmth. Sylvia Coolidge
guest stars as one of the odd habits of the odd old woman, this time artist
Amelia Ducat who just has this extremely eccentric woman. I love the character because she just appears
harmless, but could possibly be a secret spy which I love. The episode also sees the Krynoid unleash its
total power which is terrifying, especially when combined with the music of
Geoffrey Burgeon. It sounds nice to have
instrumentals instead of synthesizers which happens.
Harrison Chase played by
Tony Beckley is the human villain of the story and it is in Part Five which he
descents into utter madness. Now he was
clearly insane before, as he sent people to Antarctica to retrieve an alien
pod, allow his henchman to be infected with the pod, and didn’t care if the
world is taken over, this episode has him become completely unhinged. The Krynoid takes over his mind and has him
do its dirty work. Beckley just has this
way with the character, he hates bonsai, plays music to his plants, and has a
giant composter to dispose of his enemies.
I love the character. Part Six is
the episode that kills off Scorby, played by John Challis, Chase’s mercenary
henchman who is also given yet another terrifying performance. His death shows again how much of a coward he
is, which is what many of the characters amount to. Robert Banks Stewart writes a story that has
greed lead to cowardice as people aren’t able to succeed on their own, so they
turn to get rich quick, which in turn leads to their downfall.
To summarize, The Seeds of Doom while a story quickly
written is actually a story that becomes a classic. It is one of Doctor Who’s best with Tom Baker
on top form as the Doctor, Elisabeth Sladen brilliantly as Sarah Jane
Smith. The villain is terrifying and
works as a one off with the direction of the story makes the low budget look
almost like a regular sized budget for the time. The music is a nice change of pace for what
Doctor Who was used to and the atmosphere will have you at the edge of your
seat asking how they’ll get out of that one?
100/100
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