Day 120 — April 30th 2021
The Seeds of Death Episodes Five and Six
The Seeds of Death — Episode Five
There’s a point right at the start of this episode where one of the Ice Warrior helmets has clearly started to slip down into the main body carapace, and it’s one of those mistakes where you lament the fact that they can’t go back and do another take. Especially as the episode has literally just started.
But then it happens to another one. And then another, and you realise it’s not a mistake at all! They’ve decided to make the Ice Warriors shrink in on themselves as a result of the heating being turned up! I’m torn because on the one hand it’s a nice little visual idea, but on the other it really does look like a costume malfunction and a bit silly. Still, points for trying.
I’ve struggled a bit with the Ice Warriors in this one, because as much as they’re a great design the costumes are already looking a bit tatty. You hardly ever see more than two on screen at a time, and where during The Invasion I never doubted there were loads of Cybermen hanging around I just don’t get that sense here. They’ve already bumped off two Ice Warriors, but it feels like there’s exactly the same number still kicking around that there were when the story began.
It’s an oddly frustrating thing because there’s a beautiful shot today that’s properly packed with Ice Warriors — you’ve got three of the ‘regular’ ones and their leader all in shot at once, and it’s brilliantly composed. This sells me on the idea that there’s several of the monsters lurking around far better than anything we’ve seen in the story so far, so it’s annoying to see it happen so late.
That shot also highlights something else I’m really enjoying about this story, though, and it’s the use of different levels in the sets. All of the major locations in the story seem to feature gantries and podiums, places where the cast can stand to give a further sense of scale to the places. We’ve had the one in Moon Centre all along (used by an Ice Warrior here, and a stage for Zoe during the cliffhanger to the last episode), and we’ve got another one in the Weather Control Centre which I suspect will be used in the next episode.
I can’t remember much from this story last time around, but I think I praised these levels then, too. Watching them be put to use today gave me a pang of recognition — although it’s a strange thing to have lodged in my memory!
Fewsham comes good in this episode, and is redeemed just in time to die. I’ve been saying that Hayles’ strength is in writing believable and rounded characters, and this is another example of that. I’ve been rooting for Fewsham since the start — even though he’s been unwittingly in league with the baddies — because he’s probably the best example of a character that reminds me of myself. That might not be a hugely flattering comparison, but while I’d love to think I’d be the hero standing up to the monsters, I reckon I — and most people — are far more likely to try and save our own skins.
It means that, as with Phipps last episode, his death really means something, and I feel genuinely sad about it. It’s not often you get that from a guest character in Doctor Who, so it’s always welcome when it happens.
Overall, although there’s lots to like in here and I’ve found plenty to praise, the story is still feeling little more than average. I want to like The Seeds of Death more than I do, but it’s another 6/10 for this one.
The Seeds of Death — Episode Six
This is the sixth time I’ve written down ‘Ice Warrior Gun Effect’ in my notes while watching, and then I keep not bringing it up when I come to write my thoughts. Luckily, we’re treated to lots of examples of their cool ‘pinch’ effect in this episode, so it’s a valid place to say how much I love the effect. It’s deceptively simple — I think I’m right in saying that it’s achieved by pointing the camera at a sheet of reflective material and then striking said material from behind to create the ‘wobble’.
When they tried doing something different with the gun effect in The Dominators, I praised it roundly, but if anything I think that this is even more effective, and possibly because it’s a simpler thing. They tried to update the effect of this in one of the Peter Capaldi Ice Warrior episodes, but I don’t think you can beat the original — I reckon you could get away with doing this effect these days in almost exactly the same way.
I was going to say what a nice change it made from the ‘turning the screen negative’ effect that was used for the Daleks — and stolen by the Cybermen for The Wheel in Space — but that effect is employed in this story, for when the Ice Warriors are attacked with Solar Energy. I’ll admit that I don’t entirely understand how that works, but it looks brilliant, and rapidly cutting between images of the Ice Warrior from different angles makes it all the more effective. I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few days praising director Michael Furguson, but here’s one last chance to do do, because he’s been brilliant. Thankfully he’ll be back next season CHECK so I don’t need to wait so long this time around.
The main thing I want to talk about for this episode is Doctor Who himself. How big are his sideburns in this one?! I’ve been banging on about them for a few days, and I’d started to worry I’d misremembered their impressiveness, but they’ve really hit a peak here.
That’s not what I’m planning to discuss, though. It’s Doctor Who’s final confrontation with the Ice Warriors that’s really stood out for me in this episode. When he announces that he’s got to go and shut off the Ice Warrior signal on the moon, it’s a real moment;
Miss Kelly: ‘I know we’re sending up a false signal, but aren’t some of the Martian ships bound to follow the right one?’
Doctor Who: ‘There isn’t going to be a right one. There’s only going to be ours, the wrong one, and that’s going to lead the entire Martian fleet into an orbit around the sun.’
Zoe: ‘What about Slaar’s signal?’
Doctor Who: ‘Oh, obviously that has to be stopped.’
Eldred: ‘But how?’
Doctor Who: ‘Well, as soon as the satellite is up, I shall T-Mat myself to the moon and destroy their homing device.’
Miss Kelly: ‘They’ll kill you on sight.’
Back during the Hartnell years I spent a while saying ‘here’s another example of him becoming the character we know and love’, but I think this is another evolution of the idea. I’m not sure I can recall the last time Doctor Who so openly went off into battle like this, armed but ready to lay down his life if it means saving the day. There’s a wonderful moment towards the end where he’s told he’s going to die and he simply stands up straight, ready to take it. Cor, that’s powerful!
We also get a gorgeous shot of him facing off against Slaar. It’s not the most visually arresting image the serial has given us, but doesn’t it look brilliant? Doctor Who stood face-to-face with a monster, telling them that they’ve been defeated and there’s nothing more they can do. I’d entirely forgotten that moment, so it was all the more enjoyable to watch. I particularly love their dialogue in the showdown, which feels like something quite new while also having shades of the confrontation with Tobias Vaughn from a few weeks ago;
Slaar: ‘The heat of the sun will kill them! You have destroyed our entire fleet!’
Doctor Who: ‘You tried to destroy an entire world.’
It also made me realise that this is the last time Troughton’s Doctor Who is going to go toe-to-toe with a monster during his own era. The Space Pirates and The War Games will present him with enemies to fight, but not monsters. It’s ironic that this Doctor Who — the one who’s so much been about fighting monsters — bows out with 16 monster-free instalments. I wonder if that had an impact on the crashing ratings I mentioned the other day? At this point, Doctor Who had become a show about monsters, so maybe the kids were put off by their absence?
While I’m on the subject of Doctor Who, I’m still maintaining my theory that he and Jamie have had a falling out. When Jamie saves his friend’s life here there’s a slightly awkward thank you, but by the time they get back to the TARDIS they’re bickering and grumpy again;
Jamie: ‘Did you have to make it rain as hard as all that?’
Doctor Who: ‘Oh, Jamie, sometimes I think you’re never satisfied.’
There was an exchange in this episode which made me realise what it is I’ve been missing across the whole story. It’s this one;
Eldred: ‘How do you propose getting it to the launching pad without T-Mat?’
Miss Kelly: ‘It just so happens I found a petrol car in a motor museum.’
Eldred: ‘Really? What make?’
Miss Kelly: ‘I’ve no idea, but it’s got four wheels and it goes.’
It’s only a little thing, but I wish that the world we’re seeing here was as well developed as the characters who inhabit it. I love the idea that the world has become so reliant on T-Mat that they’ve completely given up on cars and space travel, but I feel like we need to see a bit more of that. T-Mat is presented as a way of moving large quantities of cargo around a (very limited) number of cities, and aside from a brief caption slide in Episode One you never get a sense of it being part of day-to-day life.
I can’t help but feel it would be interesting to get away from the various control rooms — Earth, Moon and Weather — and see a bit of the world outside. At the very least, I’d love to see Miss Kelly and Radnor trying to work out how to drive their newly acquired ‘Petrol Car’…!
A 7/10 for this final episode.
