Day 135 — May 15th 2021
The Ambassadors of Death Episodes Two and Three
The Ambassadors of Death — Episode Two
Coming hot on the heels of such a strong start to the story, this episode is just a bit odd. When faced with a gun and coerced to hand over the tape recording, Doctor Who simply makes the object vanish. ‘Aha,’ I thought, ‘the stuff with the Time Warp in Episode One wasn’t just a fun piece of padding, it was setting up something later in the plot!’. Liz even makes a joke about it, telling Taltalian that the object has been sent into the future. But then… no.
Liz: ‘You didn’t send it into the future, did you?’
Doctor Who: ‘No, no, no. No, that was simply transmigration of object. There’s a great deal of difference between that and pure science, you know.’
I don’t know if Doctor Who uses this trick again later in this story, but I’m fairly sure we don’t see him do it ever again afterwards. It feels oddly out of place, too. I’m not entirely sure what David Whittaker was thinking — Doctor Who’s had many different skills since the very beginning, but he’s never been outright magic.
A little later on he tricks two bad guys into helping him off the road in Bessie, only to activate the car’s ‘Anti-Theft Device’ which immediately bonds the criminals to the car by way of a force field. Again, it comes oddly out of nowhere, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. I think it was especially off-putting because only minutes earlier I’d made a note about Bessie being better than I remembered. I recalled the car being full of gimmicks like going super fast, and have been enjoying it simply being a hobby that Doctor Who works on between adventures. I especially liked the Brigadier’s gentle teasing on the subject;
Brigadier: ‘See you at the Space Centre.’
Doctor Who: ‘All right.’
Brigadier: ‘…If you make it.’
These two bizarre incidents aside I’ve found lots to enjoy in this episode again. The mystery isn’t quite as prevalent here as it was in Episode One, but what we do get really works, and it’s telling that the most gripping part of the episode for me was the cliffhanger, which leans heavily on being ominous and spooky. The repeated phrases — ‘Hello, Space Control. This is Recovery 7. Will you clear us for re-entry?’, ‘We are not cleared for re-entry…’ — feel very in keeping with the kind of thing Steven Moffat would do with the series 40 years later, and they’re just as effective here as ever.
Pertwee gets to be brilliant in this one again, and I’m really impressed with the way he tricks one of the baddies into slipping up;
Doctor Who: ‘Looking after you all right, are they? Have you had a cup of tea?’
Bad Guy: ‘Yes, thanks.’
Doctor Who: ‘That’s good. Stand to attention when you’re talking to me and call me sir!’
Bad Guy: ‘Sir!’
Doctor Who: ‘Just as I thought. Sergeant, aren’t you?’
Once again it’s a different side to the character and a chance for Pertwee to really showcase his skills some more. I feel like today’s two episodes have been really good for him, giving him so much material to work with. They also allow him to show off different sides to his personality. You never doubt how in control he in in that prison cell, but then he turns around and plays the distressed old man on the roadside. It’s impressive, and I’m so pleased that I’ve taken to him so quickly this time. I’m surprised I didn’t find all these things to latch on to last time around.
We also get a real Pertwee Era staple in this one; a load of Action by Havoc. We had a fight scene in the first episode, but this one feels somehow more ‘authentic’, largely due to the presence of helicopters and people falling from height. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, if I’m honest; parts of it look really impressive, while in other areas I feel like it could benefit from the presence of a few more supporting artists to bulk things out a bit.
An 8/10 for this one.
The Ambassadors of Death — Episode Three
I’ve been trying to work out where I’d seen Cornish recently and the penny’s finally dropped for me today — in Doctor Who only a few weeks ago!
He was one of the Dominators! I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to put two-and-two together if I’m honest. And it only clicked into place because this episode sees the return of Cyril Shaps, who was in The Tomb of the Cybermen not that long ago making this a bit of a Troughton era love-in. I’ve enjoyed them both before, so always nice to see them back.
In many ways, I don’t think this one feels especially like an episode of Doctor Who. It’s a bit grittier and more grown up than the kind of thing I’m used to — more like a story from a glossy ITV film series than a Saturday teatime children’s show. That’s not a criticism; I’ve enjoyed this well enough, but I’m not sure I’d want Doctor Who to be like this every week.
One of the things I’ve really enjoyed here is that we get an explanation for some of the dodgy happenings in the first two episodes… and it adds up. A wholly separate part of the government working on the same problem in which UNIT are engaged, with a shared point of contact keeping them apart;
Sir James: ‘General Carrington, head of the newly formed Space Security department.’
Liz: ‘Space Security? Weren’t you an astronaut on Mars Probe 6?’
Carrington: ‘Yes, I was. Please sit down, Brigadier. I realise I owe you all an apology. I can only ask you to believe that everything I have done has been for the good of us all.’
Doctor Who: ‘Does that include sending coded messages to Mars Probe 7? And kidnapping three astronauts?’
Liz: ‘And Doctor Bruno Taltalian holding a gun on us in the computer room?’
Carrington: ‘Taltalian was under strict orders to make sure you didn’t have access to the computer. You see, every astronaut is issued with an emergency code only to be used in the ultimate emergency. The code you’ve been trying to crack. The message we received from Mars Probe 7 told us that the deep space capsule had passed through a hitherto unsuspected high density radiation belt on its way back to Earth orbit.’
Liz: ‘Why didn’t you inform Space Control at once?’
Carrington: ‘Security.’
Brigadier: ‘Then why wasn’t I informed, sir?’
Carrington: ‘UNIT is an international organisation and the government wanted to keep this in its own hands.’
When we first got the explanation I thought it was clearly a fabrication which our heroes would see through in five seconds flat, but then it transpired that no, it all appears to be above board. That two of the key players also seem to be involved in the plans of the bad guys is irrelevant.
This is another good place to pause for a moment and talk about just when the UNIT stories are supposed to be set.
I’ve seen it argued on a few occasions that they ‘must’ be set at least a few years ahead of broadcast because the idea of Britain sending rockets to the Moon in 1970 is ridiculous. But with the benefit of hindsight, the idea of us sending rockets to Mars at pretty much any time seems a bit off, doesn’t it? Perhaps the intention at the time was to suggest a space faring near-future, but 50 years later the intent doesn’t hold up the same way.
This episode in particular seems to introduce a few concepts that are also suggestive of being a bit ahead of their time, but against trappings which make them seem oddly out of place. Take the van, for instance, which changes its signage with a flick of a switch. It’s perhaps notable that the script for this moment describes it in a slightly more prosaic way — suggesting a Venetian blind effect which could have been achieved relatively simply in 1970.
I think ultimately we have to accept the idea that at the time it was 100% intended to be set a few years ahead of broadcast, but with the benefit of hindsight it’s fairer to say that they take place in roughly the years these stories were broadcast, and leave it there…
Oh, and I said during Doctor Who and the Silurians that I didn’t think we had any more evidence to come that the lead character’s name is ‘Doctor Who’, but I forgot one of the key pieces introduced in that story — Bessie’s number plate! It’s WHO 1, and you can’t tell me that’s just a coincidence! I only noticed it today because we get a nice big close up as part of Liz’s car chase. It really should have been ‘WHO 3’, though, shouldn’t it?
7/10
