The Lazarus Experiment by: Stephen Greenhorn and directed by: Richard Clark

 

“The Lazarus Experiment” stars David Tennant as the Doctor and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones with Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Tish Jones, Reggie Yates as Leo Jones, Adjoa Andoh as Francine Jones, Mark Gatiss as Professor Lazarus, and Thelma Barlow as Lady Thaw.  It was written by: Stephen Greenhorn and directed by: Richard Clark with Simon Winstone as Script Editor, Phil Collinson as Producer, and Russell T. Davies and Julie Gardner as Executive Producers.  It was originally broadcast on Saturday 5 May 2007 on BBC One.

 

Stephen Greenhorn was a writer on the radar of Russell T. Davies after Greenhorn showed a desire to write for the program when the first series aired, meeting with Simon Winstone in 2006 to discuss the possibility, something Davies was keen to make happen.  Davies wished to do a proper mad scientist episode assigning the idea to Greenhorn requesting it would be set in the modern day and perhaps take inspiration from Marvel Comics villains such as Doc Ock.  Greenhorn’s idea went through several iterations due to being initially similar to “The Runaway Bride” and then potentially being too close to the Venom plotline in the soon to be released Spider-Man 3, finally settling on “The Madness of Professor Lazarus” which would be amended into “The Lazarus Experiment” by Davies shortly before filming as the second episode of the third production block by Richard Clark.  This would be one of the heavier episodes in terms of computer-generated effects, Professor Lazarus’s experiment to reverse the aging process as a pilot for commercial ventures to sell immortality to the world causing rapid mutations that without sufficient life energy causes his body to become this massive scorpion like creature from dormant genes.  Obviously, the science behind this is ludicrous as Lazarus’ body would rapidly mutate to his death in a horrific, cancerous way, but it does embody the mad science of the 1950s and 1960s B movies that clearly inspire “The Lazarus Experiment”, however the realization of the creature is entirely computer generated with actor Mark Gatiss’ face grafted on and Gatiss’ silly scary voice not quite being effective.  While there is an argument to be made that the creature is meant to reflect the cultural osmosis bad effects of B-movies, it’s honestly just difficult to look at throughout the runtime.

 

The episode also suffers from having a false climax 15 minutes before the end while Greenhorn pivots to the creature finding its way into Southwork Cathedral in the true climax that vaguely draws inspiration from the seminal 1953 Nigel Kneale serial The Quatermass Experiment.  While the climax allows Freema Agyeman and Gugu Mbatha-Raw to have a climax together as Martha and Tish Jones respectively, further bonding them as sisters, getting to the church is incredibly choppy and takes more time than necessary, time that could have fleshed out more of the first and second acts of the episode.  The first act, with the Doctor bringing Martha back to her flat the morning after “Smith and Jones” and being tempted by Tish as head of Lazarus’ PR department on television to stay and investigate, is excellently setup.  The Doctor and Martha’s relationship is perhaps explored the best with Greenhorn’s script really selling Martha’s attachment to the Doctor as toxic, though still placing that blame on Martha throughout the series is an issue as it should be squarely on the Doctor.  Mark Gatiss under the old age makeup is genuinely a triumph, the team excelling at making him unrecognizable and Gatiss’ best moments of the episode being here as a lecherous old man.  The younger Lazarus is somewhat weaker as Gatiss feels directed to go in several directions without any real sense of progression of becoming the creature, he is transformed back and forth with the energy it absorbs which doesn’t quite work.  Lazarus’ partner in Lady Thaw, played by Thelma Barlow, is also a welcome presence of levity before her demise by the mutated Lazarus, though she is quite the one note character meant to make explicit the first real mention of Mr. Saxon, the subject of the series arc which is expanded on in scenes not featuring Thaw.  The musings on the nature of life and how it isn’t time lived but what you do with it are also excellent, David Tennant giving this very subdued speech about it in one of his absolute best moments as the Doctor in an episode that isn’t fondly remembered by fans.

 

While Mr. Saxon is the crux of the series arc, what really is driving it forward is the notion of Martha’s family being worried for her.  Her mother and brother are at the experiment of the episode and are directly put in dangers way with Adjoa Andoh as Francine Jones having some of her best character moments.  Francine is introduced to the Doctor and is immediately distrustful, being motivated by her need to keep an already fractured family together as established in “Smith and Jones”, opening herself up to manipulation by a man working for Mr. Saxon, played by Bertie Carvel, who convinces her the Doctor is the cause of the danger around them and not the effect.  This is something that plays out through the episode to the end with an answering machine message as Martha leaves about how the Doctor is not safe and will get her killed, that death and destruction.  Tish is attracted to power which is why she has this almost affection for Lazarus at points, but is deemed safe because she stays on Earth, while Leo attempts to be disaffected.  The Jones family dynamic that is explored here are contenders for the episode’s best moments and plotlines, elevating a rather plane script slightly above mediocrity.

 

Overall, “The Lazarus Experiment” is an episode partially let down by an overambitious monster and mainly let down by attempting to have two climaxes.  The performances from the regular and recurring cast are all excellent, with some of the series best moments coming to the forefront in an episode that would otherwise be filler.  The monster movie aspect of the episode is also incredibly fun, something that fans for whatever reason malign the episode when it is coming off a two-parter that also attempted a monster movie effect but failed utterly in places.  While not the best episode of the series, it’s still a fun enough time and sometimes that’s what you need.  6/10.