The Seeds of Doom by: Robert Banks Stewart directed by: Douglas Camfield: The Pod Is Totally Unique, I Must Have It

The Seeds of Doom stars Tom Baker as the Doctor and Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith with John Challis as Scorby, Mark Jones as Keeler and the Krynoid, and Tony Beckley as Harrison Chase.  It was written by Robert Banks Stewart and directed by Douglas Camfield with Robert Holmes as Script Editor, and Philip Hinchcliffe as Producer.  It was originally broadcast on Saturdays from 31 January to 6 March 1976 on BBC1.

 

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