Saturday 6 February 2016

The Seeds of Death

Season 6, Story 5/7, Serial XX: 6 x 25min episodes, 25th January to 1st March 1969, Writer: Brian Hayles, Director: Michael Ferguson, Script Editor: Terrance Dicks, Producer: Peter Bryant


John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland Yay! Seeds of Death!
BeatCityTone ‏@BeatCityTone got a soft spot for this story mainly cos it was the only Trout you could legitimately watch on VHS for years.
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 i can actually remember the VHS arriving and watching it when i got back from school.
James Cooray Smith ‏@thejimsmith That initial vhs was so heavy. Comparatively speaking, of course.
Bob McCow ‏@BobMcCow lovely great big clunky 6 episode VHS. Gorgeous. (We threw all ours away in the end)
atruedrwhofan ‏@atruedrwhofan this was my very first Troughton Era DVD, bought from BBC TV centre!
Other Pete ‏@other_pete My first too! I'd watched the whole thing before anyone else got up that xmas morning.
The picture quality on the DVD's a miraculous improvement on the soft light fuzzy picture & the sound's greatly improved too.
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 i like the comfort of fuzzy!
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark wibbly-wobbly fuzzy-wuzzy!
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H  First "official" DW video I ever bought - at the time I didn't even have anything to play it on :-)
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 now that is devotion for you!
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H  Had the vague anxiety that if I didn't get it, it would suddenly become "unavailable" forever. Simpler times!
50dw50 ‏@50dw50  just incase the BBC decided to wipe it!


It's one of these odd story title sequences, as we look past the moon to the Earth.


M.R.Michael ‏@The_Cybermatt Not all that rare - they've been messing with the opening titles since The War Machines IIRC and keep doing until Inferno. I LOVE the novelisation. IIRC Terrance wrote a sizeable chunk of the script, and seems to be enjoying adapting himself.

Oh good, a daft base computer. We know we're in Troughton territory.

Gia Kelly co-ordinates T-Mat deliveries across the Earth but on the moon, technician Fewsham's put a spanner in the works.

Miss Kelly looks like she might be some descendant of Polly's.

Harry Towb arrives to cheer the place up.
KrynoidPodCast ‏@KrynoidPodCast I know HT's daughter #unfascinatingfact

Fascinating!

John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland JW Harry Towb in 'Callan' where he played a nice Russian spy. His cover was a Pet Shop. It was dead good.

I always think of him in You and Me with Cosmo & Dibbs!

Harry Towb admits making Fewsham assistant controller might have been a mistake.

Then he gets in a telephone box that will send him to the moon, once he's finished harassing Miss Kelly with 'kissy-kissy' gestures.

Commander Radnor is the boss, so he comes into work as late as he likes.
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark "in your case Miss Kelly charm and efficiency go hand in hand" - Radnor soon changes his tune when the heat is on!

It's only a model.

It probably doesn't help that Fewsham's been on duty all night.

Now the base is under seige. Where have I heard that before?
atruedrwhofan ‏@atruedrwhofan a Moonbase? With a multi national crew? Under seige? Sounds familar but I cannot place it :-)

Judging by the guns and the voices, the unseen attackers are probably Ice Warriors.

The delay doesn't go unnoticed back on Earth.

When Osgood knackers the Transmat link...

...he's gunned down.

Well that's Harry Towb gone. Didn't even get a sit down in this one.
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H   Poor old Towby thinking "will I ever make it to an episode two?"


At this stage, all Miss Kelly knows is that the problem isn't at her end.

Radnor's feathers are ruffled, to say the least.

Well, the TARDIS has finally arrived in the story, though it's not entirely clear where. How odd does Troughton look in his short sleeved shirt (and massive sideburns!)
Richard ‏@tk4721 Troughton always looks magnificent. To Mis-quote Gandalf "a Timelord dresses exactly how he wants to" ;)
 50dw50 ‏@50dw50 he seems to have shrunk the inside of the TARDIS in the wash.

It takes him a while to figure out...

Not sure who this "Greg Aarin" fella is.

...but the Doctor is delighted to realize that they've arrived in a space museum!


Oh bugger, the last time he went to a space museum it was boring as hell.
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H "They've stolen my wotsit thingummy table from Vortis!"

This doesn't bode well.

Yet again, the Doctor totally fails to go to a museum without having a gun pulled on him.

Weasely Fewsham, young Griff Rhys Jones and their boring mate are getting bullied by the hissy voice.
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H Weasel turned out to be a shapeshifter in "Survivors" you know...

They figure they're going to die, so want to see Miss Kelly one last time. Fair play.

The future people's uniforms are a bit unfortunate with their black groin-strips.
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 they are horrible and probably the only duff bit of a brilliant story.

Miss Kelly and Brent check and re-check the systems, but the problem can only be on the Moon.

Radnor has senior government officials hounding him. Everyone needs a hobby.

Miss Kelly says that the only way to the Moon now is by rocket.
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark just one man can help us now!

The space museum is run by the cantankerous Professor Eldred.
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 the ice warriors will not be happy when they discover he skinned one of their relatives to use as a body warmer

Eldred must live! 

Eldred warms to the interlopers when he finds the Doctor's enthusiasm for all things aerospace to be genuine.

The Doctor can't wait to get his hands on Eldred's rocket.
Darth Marenghi ‏@DarthMarenghi
Embedded image permalink

Rockets are no longer used in the future, they use the transporter system T-Mat with no back up. Seems sensible.

MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H Useful to know if you've got a couple of episodes of plot to fill...
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 the government has promised some extra long ladders to be used in a crisis.

Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark sounds about right!

Fewsham is reluctant when the others urge him to fix the video link instead of the transmat.


When Radnor rocks up, Eldred thinks it's too much of a coincidence and that he sent the Doctor on ahead.

"So you've been spying on me?"
"No, no, no. We stopped that a long time ago." Erm, okay...

Eldred refuses to help, even when Radnor sets Miss Kelly on him.

Weasel Fewsham's boring mate gets a message through to Earth...

...but he's caught by the Ice Warriors...

...and bumped off!

Cliffhanger time!

That Ice Warrior must be the leader. He has a massive helmet. What? He does.
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark  Kenneth has had to go into hiding, a 6-parter would wear him out!
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 after years of watching the VHS i still find the end credits startling.


Technician Phipps isn't hanging around to suffer the same fate as his mate.

Fewsham is left behind to do the Ice Warriors' bidding.


The Ice Warriors are actually very different in their 2nd story. Not in how they look (apart from the Ice Lord) but in how they behave, how they're written. In their 1st story, the Ice Warriors are a bunch of thugs, a gang of viking marauders. In this story they're written more like the alien reptiles we think of, with a more noble leadership hierarchy.

MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H  ...do you not find them to be slightly more "generic monster" this time, though?


This time out, possibly, but they weren't that distinctive in their debut, to be honest. Best in Curse of Peladon, I reckon.
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H  I liked the noble warrior thing in the early part of TIW but it did kind of fizzle out. Perhaps they're better in the books?

50dw50 ‏@50dw50 i liked them before the books and audios tried to turn them into honour obsessed klingon substitutes.


Eldred's reluctance to help is because his rocket is in no fit state to take off is soon explained.

"You've only to ask for what you want. Funds, men, equipment." offers Radnor. 
But Eldred tells him "It needs the one thing that you have not got. Time."

Jamie suggests they nip to the Moon in the TARDIS, but the Doctor's ship isn't reliable enough for such a short hop.
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark  So the TARDIS isn't suitable for short trips... He must've sorted that over the years!
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 its like parking, you get better at it over the years
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark  after a few hundred years practise, I reckon some people could parallel park!

My theory is he's better with the TARDIS after the Time-Lords "restore" his knowledge at the end of The Three Doctors - he gets back stuff he's actually forgotten! 

Knackering the TARDIS' accuracy is high up on my wishlist for the Chibnall era!

The Doctor volunteers his expertise to make them see stars.

As the computer reports worsening food shortages thanks to T-Mat's breakdown, the Doctor plans to put Jamie and Zoe on a rocket to the moon, even though Eldred says it's suicide.

Phipps nearly loses his game of hide and seek with the Ice Warriors...

...but in an amazing stroke of luck, the Ice Warrior in the room doesn't look behind it.

Miss Kelly wants a go on Pat's rocket.

Ice Lord Slaar is keen on getting a repairman in. Bow-chicka-wow-wow.

Phipps sets about lashing up something to keep the Ice Warriors at bay in his room under siege in the base under siege.

Miss Kelly prepares to send the Doctor to the moon.


The countdown always reminds me of "Resistance is Useless" - fan of a certain age, you see.

We're always led to believe the model work on the Space Pirates was amazing. Looking at that launch sequence - maybe not.
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H J General opinion always strange... the stuff in the surviving episode might suggest otherwise.

Let's be kind and assume they were saving up the model budget for the Space Pirates by cutting back here.
KrynoidPodCast ‏@KrynoidPodCast I don't think the model work is the problem with The Space Pirates #MiloClancy

Jamie keeps telling everyone he's fine. Doesn't look fine; very shifty eyes at this point.


Zoe tells him he hasn't lived till he's experienced G-Force.
Contact with the rocket is momentarily lost after take off, prompting Radnor to flap about like an idiot.

The regular cast have aright old hoot simulating zero gravity.

As Radnor gets needy on the line, Zoe gets snippy, "Wait a minute, can't you? We've only just recovered from take-off."

Slaar orders Fewsham to open the communications channel but set it to receive only...

...a trick to bait a repair team to the moon.

Miss Kelly tears strips off Radnor when he's reluctant to let her go. "You've stopped me once. Please don't try it again, otherwise I shall have to go above your head."
John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland  I say that to my line manager all the time. Miss Kelly is fab, in all the senses of the word...
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 thats excellent, there is a lot of padding in this story but it is so well made you cannot tell or care.

Most of this stuff of Phipps trying to radio Earth is filler, though.
John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland There's an argument that all the best bits of Doctor Who are 'filler'.

50dw50 ‏@50dw50 lol probably true!

True! Look at the Doctor/Victoria scene in Tomb, or Moffat's typewriter scene in The Doctor Dances.
John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland The Ark in Space episode 1.
50dw50 ‏@50dw50  The Mind Robber episode 1!

Once on the moon, she sets about repairing the T-Mat, little knowing she's serving the Ice Warriors' purpose...

Phipps tries to phone home.

Pat must have loved the character of Zoe, she has to reel off all the long complicated science bits.

All they have to do is hope the homing beacon stays on so they can land safely on the moon.

Phipps FM's drive time show is rudely interrupted by an Ice Warrior.

Phipps uses the solar power to fry the interloper.

But in doing so, he's knackered the homing wotsit!

The rocket's going to boringly drift on aimlessly through space.

Like Voyager.



Phipps' message only gets as far as the rocket, but at least they can get him to switch the beacon back on.

The Ice Warriors grow impatient and expose themselves to Miss Kelly.
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark  'Don't move, do exactly as they say!' So I'll run and get killed... 
Other Pete ‏@other_pete Reminds me of a night out in Stoke.

As the rocket comes in, Phipps has another wobble with the homing beacon, just to keep the TARDIS crew on the edge of their seats.

Well, they've finally made it (back) to the moon...

The Doctor heads off to find Phipps alone, leaving Zoe & Jamie to refuel.

Why is Zoe so preoccupied with repairing the engines, surely the plan is to use T-Mat to return to Earth?

Shit's going down all over.

Miss Kelly tells Slaar there's not enough of them to defeat the armed forces of Earth, but he assures her "there will be no resistance."

It doesn't take the Doctor long to find Phipps in the Solar Store Room.

Fair play to Zoe, now the Doctor's decided T-Mat has to be destroyed to foil the Ice Warriors.

So it's a bit unfortunate...
John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland Jamie looks good in that black top doesn't he?
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 something for the dads!

...that the rocket's screwed & T-Mat's their only hope of escape!

The Doctor and Phipps are surprised to almost bump into an Ice Warrior escorting Miss Kelly.

While Phipps and Miss Kelly get away, the Ice Warrior pursues the Doctor.

Some good old fashioned comedy Scooby-Doo corridor running with Pat now!
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 i still hum the Ice Warriors drum music when i mooch down the street at twilight!
Cyberman "Space Adventure" all the way for me!
BeatCityTone ‏@BeatCityTone Adric 's Theme was stuck in my head for years. Used to work it into songs at gigs (I play kbds).

Here it comes...

"Your leader will be angry if you kill me... I'm a genius!"

"Geeeniiiuuuuuusssssssss...."
John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland  I say that to my line manager all the time.

lol! Swiftly followed by being escorted to the boss by two burly managers? ;-P

The Ice Warrior's leader thinks the Doctor has been on the moon all along.
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H Didn't notice the ruddy great rocket landing then...? Should've gone to spechelmets...

The Ice Warriors have a special delivery for the Earth...

M.R.Michael ‏@The_Cybermatt A space barbecue?
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H If we're not in, just leave a card...

Jamie, Zoe, Phipps and Miss Kelly all make it back to the Solar Power room, where Jamie's first thought is to turn up the heat on the Martian invaders.

Fewsham helps the Doctor sneak a peek at the space barbeque.

Looks like the Ice Warriors are going to send water balloons all over the planet, the cheeky pranksters!

Hang about, the balloons are seed pods, blurting out toxic spores! Well that's not on, is it?

One of the seeds disperses its spores right in the Doctor's face!
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H  "Oh, I sooooo need a week off..."

Not a cliffhanger? I suspect this episode may have underrun and had material from the next brought forward.

Hmmm. Not sure this biological warfare makes the Ice Warriors quite as honourable as they'd have us believe.
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark they have no honour! 



As yet another Ice Warrior meets his end in the Solar Power room (hasn't Slaar noticed his troops being wiped out one by one?)...

...Slaar has his Warriors T-Mat a seed pod to Earth.

"It's alive!"
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 Patrick McGoohan just hid behind his sofa.


The special delivery seed does its' thing.

Brent's blinking dead!

"It's now been dispelled into the air of London!"
"And the rest of the UK?"
"There's a 'rest of the UK' now?"
Davad ‏@davadsteel No Scottish independence in the Future!!!?!

"Scotland"? Whereabouts in London is that?

With a little help from Fewsham, the Ice Warriors begin T-Matting the pods all over the Earth.

Jamie and Phipps fumble in the air vent as the Ice Warriors plan to T-Mat the Doctor out into space...

Zoe and Miss Kelly fixing the weapon by wiggling a screwdriver inside and changing the bulbs.

On Earth, the seeds begin ejecting their foam-like spores into the atmosphere...

Slaar looks fantastic; the 1st of Alan Bennion's brilliant Ice Lord performances in Doctor Who.

As Slaar orders Fewsham to bump off the not-Doctor, Jamie & Phipps race to haul him out through a back entrance.
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H "I'd forgotten about him... That was a time when I wasn't the Doctor any more... He's known as the Sleep Doctor...!"
John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland Never got the hang of this bit...

Yes, not quite clear that they do actually successfully nab him just before the T-Mat is activated.

Phipps plans to turn up the heat, but can't fit through the air duct.

The Seeds are really getting to work now: victims of oxygen starvation at foam parties in New York and Berlin.

An Ice Warrior crashes the party - and the T-Mat booth - and lumbers towards Radnor and Eldred!
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H Ah yes, "Radnor & Eldred - Fashion Designers" (purveyors of finest uniforms for the space age)

"Black stripes around the groin, sir? Suit you, sir!"

They're tough buggers these Ice Warriors, virtually bullet proof. He just ploughs out of the base.

On the moon, while everything's going Slaar's way...

...the Sleep Doctor keeps his head down.

Great stuff from director Michael Ferguson as the Ice Warrior attacks.

Phipps is getting a bit hysterical in the air vents, overcome with claustrophobia as he starts to lose hope.
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H "You go first, Zoe..."

That Ice Warrior's still rampaging about hampering the killjoys trying to end his world wide foam party.
Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly  Reminds me of lumbering home hungover through Valentines Park. And then security guards start shooting at me...
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark makes me laugh as the computer starts sounding more panicked when it is reporting!

Ha, yeah, bit like the announcer towards the end of an edition of University Challenge, isn't it!
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H "Radnor, London..."
Chris ‏@KosmicKris there is nothing about this story that isn't utterly brilliant! The panicky computer just adds to it!
Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly And when nobody wants to listen, his sulky voice is spot on.

With Phipps having lost his direction, Zoe goes into her mind palace, which is more of a thought bungalow.

The Ice Warriors don't deliver to any warm cities.
Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly Just like IKEA.
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H Yeah, give those to Yodel...


Jamie & Miss Kelly play charades to avoid an Ice Warrior.

Just when they think the coast's clear, the Sleep Doctor's groans bring the Ice Warrior lumbering back.

When Fewsham clocks Phipps & Zoe, he draws the Ice Warrior away so they can crawl out of the conduit. He's not all bad.

Zoe wipes the floor with her chamois leather suit.
John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland I think Zoe's outfit in 'The Krotons' is best

Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark not Mind Robber? 

John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland See what you're saying, but Krotons outfit is so 60s and fab


Charles Daniels ‏@ukoddball Space Pirates guys.. Space Pirates.


Zoe turns up the heat...

Busted! Zoe is spotted after fiddling with the thermostat!
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark walking in front of the bright screen probably didn't help...
Cliffhanger! 

Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly Is Zoe about to belt out a song?

Fewsham grabs the Ice Warrior from behind; the Martian keels over from the heat.

Fewsham helps Zoe get back to the others, with the news that T-Mat is functioning again.

As the real Doctor wakes up after his week off, he nearly gets them all killed!

Jamie has to engage in hand to clamp combat.

Miss Kelly is saved when Zoe's heatwave reaches the solar power room.

The Doctor has recovered just in time to welcome Zoe back.

"Well, that's all we need." Beauracrat Sir James Gregson arrives to demand a report from Radnor; he's futuristic in more ways than one, being something of a throw forward to the Pertwee era.

The Ice Warrior takes his travelling foam party to Weather Control...

Michael Fish is nowhere to be seen, but the Ice Warrior's taking no chances that there could be a hurricane.
Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly There are 3 dry settings. Each with a stubby lever. I love this story. Like a noir Balamory.

The Doctor and his pals prepare to return to Earth while the Ice Warriors are still knocked out, er, hot. Miss Kelly isn't convinced by Fewsham's protestations of innocence.

Radnor is pleased to see Miss Kelly. Ahem.

Fewsham has stayed behind, leading Mis Kelly to conclude that he is working for the Ice Warriors after all. But if that's so, then why has he let them escape?

Slaar stumbles in complaining like your dad that the thermostat's too high.
Chris ‏@KosmicKris Lots of Centigrades!
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark yeah, why have a setting that would kill everyone working there?

I know! Why are all the humans fine with FIFTY DEGREES CENTIGRADE!! 


Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark yeah, thinking about it I worked somewhere that thought like that!
Chris ‏@KosmicKris Look, if the kettle is broken it's always nice to have options! (They might also have got confused with F)


Some great direction and shots in this one.

Love the scene of Slaar and Fewsham silouetted against the screen.

The Doctor convinces Gregson that they need to analyse the fungus in order to work out to destroy it.

Reckon Jamie's Scotch-ed up that milkshake, you know.
Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly Jamie's ability to take everything in his stride, walk away from a slaughter and enjoy a tea break is why he's the best.

I like it when he just decides to have a random kip during The Invasion.

The Doctor goes to collect some of the fungus, using such space age safety equipment as a handkerchief held to his face.

Miss Kelly and Radnor plan to send up a satellite to run a limited T-Mat service to get food shipments going again.

The Doctor & Eldred continue their experiments on the fungus...

...when one of the seed pods begins it's terrible expansion.

As the Doctor tries his "throw things at it and see what happens" experiment, all becomes clear...
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark it IS the scientific method!


The deadly fungus is vulnerable to... water. Hence knackering weather control so it can't rain. But water - really? Cos there's not much of that on Earth. These Ice Warriors are a bit thick, really.
Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark worst invasion plan ever - especially starting it in England!

Zoe's at the computer. It better not backchat her. She's got form.

Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly Have I mentioned Fewsham's brilliant? 

Fewsham's brilliant.

Jamie and Zoe wade through the fungus to get to weather control...

...where they discover the Warrior's sabotage. But where is he?

Still there!

Marshall the Martian has a very shiny helmet.
Chris ‏@KosmicKris “So yeah, we’ll get our fleet not to go into orbit of Earth but home in on a shonky homing signal right?"

Fewsham sacrifices himself to let the others overhear the signal that will bring in the Martian fleet.

Hilarious when Slaar realizes and looks straight to camera.
Chris ‏@KosmicKris He should have added “The Spineless Cretins” in true ‘gawp to camera’ style.

Not so hilarious for Fewsham, of course.
Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly Poor sod. Heart and soul of the story.
50dw50 ‏@50dw50 Their are Fewshams and now there is one less Shams.
John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland  Terry Scully's performance is one of the best ever in Doctor Who. Criminally underated.
MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H Coming soon, the "how the hell do we edit this for the omnibus edition?" foam sequence.
Chris ‏@KosmicKris BBC had just bought a foam machine and all producers were under orders to use it at every opportunity - true story! “There you go Mr Kine, we’ve booked the foam machine for episode 5 and we’ll throw it in for episode 6 for free"
Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly The Rolling Stones are waiting impatiently off camera. They've got a video to make. 

"I know, it's only Martian Foam, but I like it, like it, yes I do!"

The Ice Warrior lies in wait for him on the other side...

...as the foam party gets a bit raucous for the Doctor!


Jamie & Zoe are powerless to help as the Ice Warrior is between them and the Doctor.

Jamie leads the Ice Warrior away so Zoe can open the door.

Messy Pat makes it in...

...but fails to pull Zoe into the foam...

...no matter how much she laughs when he slips.

MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H  Jamie's been getting over-excited again... must be the company he's keeping...

Jamie evades the Warrior...

...and is reunited with his messy friends in yet another solar energy room. Does every building in the future have one for hideout purposes?

The Ice Warrior starts to melt its' way through the door...

...when the security forces turn up for a scrap.

Chris ‏@KosmicKris “But bullets don’t work?” “Ah yes but if we send lots of them maybe they will?” “Ok, sounds like a plan."

Needless to say the Ice Warrior makes short work of the bubble-headed guards.
Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly That is the purpose of guards, as the wise man said.

The Doctor's used a couple of electric heaters with light bulbs to melt the Ice Warrior.
Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly The man who never would, my arse. This Doc will melt you and your family if you get in his way.

Radnor arranges to hose the foam. Not a euphemism.

The Doctor prepares to send up a wrong signal to lead the Martian fleet to the sun, and a mobile power source for his Martian-melters. What jolly fun.

Marshal Spangles orders Slaar to recruit another repair man from Earth. None of the Ice Warriors can use the remote on account of their clamps.



Satellite's gone up to the skies...

Miss Kelly sends the Doctor to the moon...

...where he soon claims another victim.

MAW Holmes ‏@MAW_H "...I used to have Barbara around to do this sort of thing..."

The Doctor is captured by Slaar again...

...but he's made the switch and the fake signal is at work.

Slaar orders the Doctor to get familiar with the T-Mat controls. Pat doesn't need telling twice.

They're a bloodthirsty lot back at T-Mat control, aren't they?

Too late, Marshal Spangles realizes they've set the controls for the heart of the Sun. They could not possibly have avoided heading into the Sun. Y'know, 'cause it's dead inconspicuous-like.

Slaar is furious that the Doctor has fried his fleet.
John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland Slaar's anger and frustration are perfectly played.

He kinda has a point. Bit cruel & cowardly if you ask me.
Chris ‏@KosmicKris No, it’s exactly what such a useless plan deserves! With this many holes in their scheme they’d have been useless overlords

Mark ‏@Th3DarkMark they asked for it, f**k 'em!

Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly
 He's the bloody Hybrid and War Doctor rolled into one. Time War would've lasted a day with Doc 2 calling the shots.
John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland Marsforming the Earth is also a bit cruel and cowardly...

True!


Jamie arrives in the nick of time to distract the Warrior ordered to kill the Doctor...

...and in the struggle the Doctor makes the Warrior fire on his own leader instead of Jamie. 
Chris ‏@KosmicKris  He’s about to get a wobbling he’ll never forget!

The last remaining Ice Warrior is overcome...


...and rain from the repaired Met Office takes care of the fungus.

And as usual, the Doctor, Jamie & Zoe slink off, job done.
John Mark Frankland ‏@JMFrankland I wish they could just slink off now. I like those 'what do you think Doctor...Doctor?' bits..
Always lovely aren't they. The mysterious strangers gone like the wind, were they ever real? New optimism as survivors rebuild.
Simon Threadgold ‏@dimwittedly Love that story, flaws n' all. A great last fun runaround with my favourite team before the epic and bleak end of an era.
Chris ‏@KosmicKris 
  Sorry I only joined at the end. It’s up there with my very favourite stories! An absolute hoot! Thanks for the tweetalong!

It's got all the right ingredients - brilliance from Pat, Frazer and Wendy, great set design and lovely world building in the script, memorable guest turns and good direction... but there's no denying that it does plod along at times, if we're honest.


TTFN! K.
Coming Soon... Full Circle

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