Blake's 7: Killer

“Yes, but then we're absentminded scientists, you see. In fact, we've forgotten your name already.”

Ooh, it’s a script by the great Robert Holmes! Seeing his name come up had me quite excited, I can tell you. What we get here is a seemingly effortless piece of storytelling, with the pacing, characterisation and plotting all just masterful.

We start the story in media res, with Avon and Vila teleporting down to the planet Phosphoron to embark on a mission of some kind. Phosphoron, like all planets we’ve seen so far, bears an uncanny resemblance to Hertfordshire or Surrey, and is home to a small Federation base. All of this is established with the kind of narrative efficiency and avoidance of blatant exposition that we don’t always get from Terry Nation, bless his cotton socks.

There’s another factor, though; a Wanderer class vessel spotted by the Liberator. This ship is six to seven centuries old and “infraluminal”; incapable of faster-than-light travel. Its position is a mystery; it should take much more than seven centuries to get to this part of the galaxy, and Cally detects a “malignant” presence.

This vessel has been spotted on Phosphoron, and preparations are being made to bring it to the surface for study. Meanwhile, Avon and Vila manage to break into the complex, which looks very similar to the many contemporary 1970s industrial locations we’ve seen on Blake’s 7 up to this point.

Robert Homes gives us his trademark well-rounded, worldly wise characters, with both Tynus and Dr Bellfriar having rather more depth than we would normally expect from characters of this type. We’re told that Avon plans to exploit his powers of blackmail over Tynus to force him to help them break a new Federation code which will allow them to listen in to all Federation communications. A plan is hatched, but it will take ten hours…

Orac has some information on the missing craft; the only Wanderer craft not accounted for disappeared in the area of 61 Cygni, the “darkling zone”, the only region of space near to earth which remains uncharted, and from whence no traveller returns. That’s nowhere near as alarming as the events on the surface; there’s been an invasion of Michelin men.

Oh, and Blake, motivated by nothing other than curiosity, teleports down and is immediately spotted and caught. Yes, Dr Bellfriar turns out to be friendly, but this doesn’t alter the fact that Blake is an utter plonker.

A body is found aboard the ship, and an autopsy is carried out, but the pathologist- nicely imbued with personality by both the script and Morris Barry in spite of such a minor role- is suddenly killed as the corpse comes to life, breaks his neck and promptly carks it again. Unfortunately, this lets loose a plague throughout the facility, which will mean that all of the guest characters, uniquely, die in this story.

Blake has theories; the virus is airborne, and not even those ridiculous masks with the dark shades and bubble wrap over the mouth are going to save and of the many redshirts. He quotes an historical instance of Lord Jeffery Amherst deliberately planning to use blankets infected with smallpox against, er “redskins” in North America during the Seven Years’ War. It seems that pre-space flight history is still remembered more than seven centuries in the future.

This is a deliberate attempt, it seems, by a hidden civilisation in the Cygnus 61 era to ethnically cleanse the galaxy of humans. Dr Bellfield’s concluding monologue seems to confirm that the virus will only affect those who have been exposed to deep space, in an attempt to confine humans to one planet. He is unable to finish the chemical formula for the antidote, however, and we have a very downbeat ending as Blake launches a plague warning to alert anyone approaching the planet.

Absolutely brilliant.

Doctor Who: The Creature From the Pit

Part One

“What are you doing in the Place of Death?"

“Oh, just pottering around. I have this insatiable curiosity, you see… why do you call it the Place of Death?”

“Because anyone found here is automatically condemned to death.”

“Ah.”

This is a story I’d been looking forward to immensely, as I remember finding this story an utter delight back when it was released on video- silly in a good, Season Seventeeny way, with lots of Douglas Adams-esque witty dialogue which often did extyreme violence to the fourth wall. Plus, it’s written by David Fisher, who penned two great stories last season. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, K9’s new voice, for a start. Perhaps it’ll grow on me, but David Brierley’s vocal style lacks the prissiness of John Leeson’s, and doesn’t deliver the lines the same way. K9 suddenly seems to have lost a large chunk of his personality.

The TARDISeers land on an alien planet where the our heroes attacked by silly yet convincing looking “Wolfweeds” and threatened with death by Eileen Way, a real face from the past. Some of the dialogue sparkles a bit, but it all seems a little formulaic, however much this is acknowledged in the dialogue. And then we get our hirsute cockney bandits, who all seem to be played like Fagin and out to pick a pocket or two. This is a little unfortunate, especially as they’re portrayed as grasping and greedy. Still, I love Romana’s attitude to being captured, and the cool way she contrives her escape.

It’s quite surprising to see Morris Barry turning up in an acting role here, executed for his unfortunate lack of “a teaspoon and an open mind”. But the main baddy is played in a suitably pantomimish fashion by Myra Frances- it’s not a particularly subtle performance but Lady Adastra is such a fun character, and there’s no other way her lines could have been delivered. She’s a pure cipher, but this is of course quite deliberate. This story knows exactly the sort of thing it is, as clearly shown by the dialogue’s frequently wrecking ball-like relationship with the fourth wall: “We call it… the pit!” / “Ah, you have such a way with words…”. It’s just that, for the first time in the Graham Williams era, this is all starting to sound a slightly troubling note. This story may know it’s a formulaic runaround crammed with stock characters, but that doesn’t stop it being a formulaic runaround crammed with stock characters.

Oh, and why on Earth does the Doctor just chuck himself into the pit at the end?

Part Two

“We call it… the creature!”

“Ah. That’s original.”

There’s a justly famous scene at the beginning of the episode, with the Doctor, hanging off a ledge halfway down the pit, consulting a climbing manual called Everest in Easy Stages. It’s in Tibetan, so the Doctor pulls out another tome from his bottomless pockets, this time titled Teach Yourself Tibetan. It’s a terrific gag, and I wouldn’t dream of being so churlish as the bring up any linguistic skills the Doctor may or not have displayed in Planet of the Spiders.

We get introduced to the fab Geoffrey Bayldon as Organon in this episode, and he gets by far the best line: “The future foretold, the past explained, the present… apologised for.” We’re also introduced to the eponymous creature, which looks almost exactly like a massive green… words fail me.

We’re introduced fully to the underlying concept behind the story here too- metal is rare and Adastra has the monopoly. It’s fundamentally a sound basis for a story, but never explored in any depth. In fact, much about this society is left vague- what’s the tech level? What about those other communities without a metal mine? How come a single mine produces so many different kinds of metals?

Part Three

“I thought you were dead! Why haven’t you died?”

“I’m sorry, my lady. It was… an oversight.”

It’s becoming increasingly clear that this isn’t going to be as good as I remembered it. It has lots of good one-liners and a fun camp villain, both of which protect it from falling too low in my affections, but I must admit the plot itself is very much by the numbers. Plus, I don’t like the way an astrologer is allowed to be a major character in here without astrology being seriously questioned at any point. That’s not the way Doctor Who has traditionally dealt with the subject.

The most eye-popping moment in this episode (and perhaps in all of Doctor Who thus far!) is a certain moment involving the Doctor and the creature’s, er, protuberance. I suspect it’s this more than the story’s perceived shortcoming that led to this story being one of the last out on video and is delaying its DVD release.

Part Four

“Have a care, Doctor!”

“Have a care yourself. Have a care for your people for a change.”

We finally get the big revelation- the creature, or Erato, is in fact an ambassador from Tythonius, who rather conveniently comes from a world with loads of metal and a deficit in chlorophyll, and arrived on this world to arrange a trade. Adrasta, wishing to retain her monopoly, kidnapped him, shoved him into a pit, and proceeded to drop engineers and astrologers on him. Instead of, say, just killing him. Once the secret is out, both Erato and her own people have a bone to pick with Adrasta and she is quickly killed. End of story. Except we’ve still got most of the episode to fill.

And there lies the problem- with the plot wrapped up, the episode just feels like padding to fill up the time until the end of the episode. Which is exactly what it is. And I’m not entirely sure the science is accurate!

Well, I’ve not exactly been complimentary about this story, but in spite of everything it has enough wit and charm about it to protect it from a seriously low rating. This is an odd one, the first genuine guilty pleasure because the fact is, despite its faults, I can’t help being fond of The Creature From the Pit. 3/5.

Doctor Who: The Dominators

Part One


"Running aground on an atomic island isn't my idea of fun."


We've reached season six, so from now on all episodes will mostly exist. Hooray! So it's the first BBC Video release of the Troughton era (!), and it's immediately apparent how poor a condition the prints are in. It's times like this you really come to appreciate the Restoration Team. The model work is instantly impressive, though.

We can tell from very early on that this is going to be silly and fun- squabbling, moustache twirling Dominators versus several men in dresses and a rather attractive blonde. But all the same it's a relief when Zoe's finished watching The Evil of the Daleks and the TARDIS arrives, for a "nice peaceful holiday".

The Dulcians are already showing themselves to be so wet that I'm on the Dominators' side.



Part Two


"Just act stupid- if you can manage that."


I love the sight of those stumpy little Quarks walking!

Interesting that this is the first story to mention two hearts- but not in relation to the Doctor. We also get the first scream from Zoe at the end which can truly be said to be up to Victoria's considerable standards. She's settling in nicely though, a more intelligent, proactive character than Victoria but with as good a rapport with the Doctor and Jamie.

I love the Dominators' quibbling, and the way it's performed. Depth of characterisation is all well and good, but sometimes there's nothing wrong with some good old fashioned pantomime villainy! The Dulcians, meanwhile, are not only wet pacifists but, even worse, seem to have no curiosity about the world around them, and no propensity to actually think about things. The mind-bogglingly stupid manner in which a bunch of them just walk up to the Dominators' spacecraft shows that natural selection must have been on the blink on this planet.

I'm enjoying this, though, much as it's a load of old cobblers. Could this be the first "so bad it's good" story?



Part Three


"Better to do nothing than the wrong thing."



Is it just me or is it completely impossible to understand a word the Quarks are saying?

More fun and silliness this episode, with the Doctor doing a lot of gurning in the capsule while Zoe gets an early chance to show how great she is by plotting escape with Cully. And we get more evidence of natural selection being on the blink when it comes to the Dulcians as it seems they happily leave live guns lying around as exhibits in museums.



Part Four


"I warn you- a Dominator must be obeyed".

I just love the little spats between Rago and Toba. Such naturalistic dialogue. Also great are the scenes with Jamie and Cully throwing rocks at the Quarks. Of course, this doesn't actually achieve anything except to make the Dominators kill the old bloke, but still...



Part Five


"It's so simple only you could have though of it."


So, another scene with Jamie and artificial food, for the second story in a row. Heigh-ho. I love the way Jamie comes up with the plan to defeat the bad guys and save the day here though. The scenes with Jamie and Cully chucking home made bombs at the Quarks are also fun.

We see the sonic screwdriver for only the second time (although we don't really get a clear look at it) and already it's "a little more than a screwdriver."



Well, I really enjoyed that. It was very, very silly, of course, and if I was being sensible I'd point out that the guest characters were just ciphers and much of the plot made no sense. But there's nothing sensible about this story which kept me amused all the way through, and I don't care whether the humour was intentional or not. Great fun, 3/5.

Doctor Who: Tomb of the Cybermen

Part One


"Perhaps we don't want your help."

"That's just it- you so obviously do."


Good Lord- a story that exists in its entirety, the first since The War Machines- such luxury! And probably the first story for ages I've encountered in the marathon that I know very well indeed. That means I'm thinking about what I'm seeing, not absorbing new info, so this review might go on a bit more than usual! Although the fact we get 100% footage may have something to do with it too.

It's such a difference watching this story in context. We start on Skaro, of course, and Victoria is introduced to the TARDIS in a scene I once considered throwaway but is a wonderful little character scene after seeing The Evil of the Daleks- Victoria's father and Maxtible get a nice mention, and the Doctor compares his time machine to Maxtible's.

So, the Doctor's 450 years old. This is our first inkling that he's of any great age, and after the last story only the second confirmation that he's an alien.

We're just bombarded with goodness- Cyril Shaps, some awesome incidental music, and a particularly well-sketched group of characters, nicely introduced. The structure of the story is great from the start, and there's something cinematic about both the look and the style of storytelling.

The one thing that bothers me about this story is there pretty much from the start though; the big, strong, practically mute servant type, always spoken about and seldom spoken to even in front of him, played by a black actor. This is an archetype from an earlier, less enlightened age.

In a story with few laughs, I had to chuckle at the revelation that the Cybermen have "dynasties". And also raise an eyebrow that, in the 25th (?) century, the women have to stay behind while the men explore!

Jamie states of the dormant Cybermat that "It's as dead as a stone". In no way is it going to prove a threat later then...

There's a lot to praise in this episode, but I'm particularly enjoying the verbal sparring between the Doctor and Klieg, well scripted and well acted by both troughton and George Pastell. And the Doctor's manipulating Klieg even from the first episode, of which more later.



Part Two



"You belong to us. You shall be like us."


I love Viner, both the character and Cyril Shaps' general magnificence. A minor character plot-wise but he adds so much to the story by voicing the audience's fears. And whilst ostensibly a comic character in some ways you never actually laugh at him; you know his tragic fate is inevitable and you sense that so does he.

Parry is in no way the leader of this expedition- it's the Doctor and Klieg who are competing for the alpha male slot here and the winner's never in any doubt. The character dynamics are very well developed as the plot progresses.

Kit Pedler's influence is clear in the technical stuff on symbolic logic and general lack of howlers, but rather surprising the excellence in plot and characterisation must presumably come from Gerry Davis, who's not previously impressed me much.

Oh look, food pills! I love these charmingly 60s sci-fi tropes. And the Cybermen's awakening scene, again to that music, is one of my favourite dramatic telly moments ever. It's awesome.

Up until the last story, it seemed as though character development had been a thing of the past, of the days of David Whitaker and Dennis Spooner. And yet, for the second story in succession, the Doctor continues his development into a more manipulative figure. The Doctor admits he allowed Klieg leeway with the controls just to see what he would do- and as a result Viner is killed! Surely the Doctor is partly to blame for this? In fact, surely Jamie should be pulling him up on this, especially after what happened last story?

It's interesting seeing the ritual by which the Cybermen awaken their Controller. They may have no emotions, but they seem to have cultural practices of a sort.



Part Three


"We're not like you!"


"You will be."



Interestingly, this story is a battle between three manipulators: Klieg, the Cybermen and the Doctor (in ascending order). Klieg's own serious pretensions to control of the situation are punctured at the very start of the story, while the Cybermen reveal their motivation more fully than before: they attacked the moonbase as their machines had failed and their extinction was nearing. Desperate to survive, they fled to the tombs.

Once again the terrifying prospect of Cybernisation is raised, and once again a first wave of Cybermen is beaten back halfway through the story. For the first time in a Cyber story, though, we're not blatantly being fed the same plot as The Tenth Planet, or at least it's being done sufficiently differently. I won't be marking the story down for excessive similarity to The Tenth Planet as I did The Moonbase.

The Cybermats are actually quite scary, although why they're called that I have no idea.

George Pastell shows what a fantastic actor he is, convincingly looking scared as Klieg knocks for the others to open the hatch and let him out. At this point Klieg is no longer at all in control, being manipulated by Kaftan. But even she is worried by his erratic behaviour,

The chat about bereavement between the Doctor and Victoria is a wonderful little scene, once again all the more so for seeing the story in context.



Part Four


"Well, now I know you're mad. I just wanted to make sure."


The final cliffhanger, with Klieg the threat, is appropriate as by this point, with the Cybermen safely below, he's the only potential cause of further danger. The threats posed by the Cybermen throughout this episode are all caused by him. This episode centres around the psychological battle for dominance between the Doctor and Klieg, but not without some other nice touches. Victoria is clever to feed the paranoia of Kaftan and Klieg with talk of "the other weapon". And I notice in the Doctor's scene with Toberman he tells him the Cybermen want to control him and make him their slave; this Doctor's dislike of slavery and control is becoming a definite character trait by now, as much as his interventionism and the hiding of his razor-sharp intellect behind the clownish exterior.

The Doctor's never been so manipulative, though, and this is a fascinating trait to behold. Al throughout the final scene with Klieg, with a gun being pointed at him, the Doctor is always in full control as he goads Klieg for just long enough for the Cyberman to sneak up behind him.





Overall, superb. The pacing was masterful, with every scene having its part to play, as was the characterisation of both regulars and guest characters. And the Cybermen have never seemed so threatening. And most of all I'm fascinated by the development to the Doctor's character, played awesomely by Troughton. Best season opener since An Unearthly Child?

Doctor Who: The Moonbase

Part One


"We've got a bit of a flap up here."



The fact that our heroes have landed on the Moon is most cool, although it's surprising we've had to wait so long for such a seemingly obvious setting. I enjoy Jamie's reaction: "That picture cannae be the Moon. The Moon's way up in the sky." Unfortunately Jamie then proceeds to not be in this episode much. Or the next.

This is a decent enough introductory episode, although it's a little too reminiscent of The Tenth Planet even at this early stage. The guest characters are a bit dull in the main and their multi-national nature seems a bit tokenistic, not to mention Eurocentric. Still, it's amusing to see that Bob, in 2070, clearly gets his glasses from the National Health.

Things end on an upswing though, with Ralph being zapped by a mysterious metallic arm (all right, I'm sure even the original viewers would have known perfectly well what it was!) and that music...



Part Two


"There are some corners of the universe which have bred the most terrible things. things which act against everything that we believe in. They must be fought."



Interesting: it's implied Hobson is at least vaguely aware of the events of The Tenth Planet. It may not be much, but it's a step towards continuity between the future Earth stories.

The best thing about this episode by far is the Doctor's speech, which I've used as my quote. This is the final affirmation of the Doctor as hero- from this point onwards just going back to the Ship when there's trouble afoot should not normally be an option.

Ooh, Glasgow, 1888, Lister- another namedrop! It feels like ages since the last one. Although, are we talking Joseph or Dave? There's yet more nostalgia from the noise made by the computers, straight from The Tenth Planet.

I have to ask though... why are some members of the crew wearing shower caps? And surely the "hurricane" in the Pacific should be a cyclone?

The Doctor is great here, especially in the scenes where he's collecting "specimens", although a lot of this may be down to the fact that Troughton's performance is actually visible as well as audible. The new Cybermen are also great, although much less obviously human.

Oh, and Polly makes some coffee while the Doctor "thinks of something". What an ending, though!

Part Three


"How did you get in?"

"It was very simple. Only stupid Earth brains like yours would have been fooled."


Oh pants. This is the only Troughton story with speaking Cybermen where I can't turn on the subtitles, which is a bit of a problem. Still, I love the way Loose Cannon make their mouths move. And that music is just great. They may not look quite as cool and their voices may be a bit crap, but I like these new Cybermen. And although the voices are crap the emotionless delivery can be quite chilling: "They're not dead?" "No, they are not dead. They are altered".

Jamie only narrowly (and conveniently) escapes Cyber-conversion. I love the way conversion is taking such a central role here. Although I'm not exactly sure why the Cybermen want to destroy the surface of the Earth. Saying that there are "dangers" to be "eliminated" is not exactly an explanation! But still...

Oh, any the Cybermen get some rather eyebrow-raising lines. I mean "Clever, clever, clever"?

This episode is rather good though and certainly the best yet, as the missing episodes often are, annoyingly enough. Polly's plan with the nail varnish is great. As is the disturbing fact that the Cybermen don't care that the converted human slaves will die within 12 hours because they will have served their purpose.

The blatantly educational conversation about plastics between Polly and Ben takes me back to the early Hartnells. They both seem to have a rather impressive grasp of GCSE chemistry type things.

The way Polly, Ben and Jamie defeat the Cybermen through cleverness is great, but by this point it's clear that the plot is rather too close to that of The Tenth Planet for comfort: our heroes have defeated an initial wave of Cybermen only to be besieged by more. I can overlook the reuse of the same plot just this once, but I hope we don't see this "base under siege" formula again any time soon... what, what?

Part Four


"Everything's got a weak point. It's just a question of waiting till it shows up. That's all."


The tension has clearly been building up to this episode and it pays off splendidly with a sense of inevitable doom. But from the start Troughton's quiet stoicism is the perfect counterpoint- this is the Second Doctor I remember from before the marathon, unprepossessing, somewhat in the background, but quietly thinking his way out of the situation and being the centre of attention even though he's not doing very much.

The music is very eerie and effective by this point, and combined with the powerfully effective sight of Cybermen being still and silent on the lunar surface this must have had the kids cacking themselves.

This episode is therefore mostly great, with only two things which jar somewhat: Polly makes some coffee again while Ben and Jamie do all the man's work and is generally a bit wet throughout; and some dodgy science- "Once they get into the Sun's gravity belt, they can't change course." Er, yes...

The tension keeps on ratcheting up in a nicely paced way as the episode goes on, and our heroes are looking increasingly doomed. One dialogue exchange packs quite a punch: "You'll never get inside the base." "We are in it already". Unfortunately another line is rather less effective: "I shall count to ten. If you still stupidly remain silent, we shall fire." But the tension is great, and the resolution highly satisfying.

Once again the TARDISeers quickly slip away at the end, and take a look at the Doctor's time scanner which, unless it's a reworked version of the Time / Space Visualiser from The Space Museum, the Doctor has rather oddly never mentioned before.


Overall, a fantastic story, pacey and full of suspense. If I'd watched it in isolation a 5/5 may not have been out of the question, but in the context of the marathon it suffers from being too similar to The Tenth Planet for comfort. So 4/5.