Day 205 — July 24th 2021
Terror of the Zygons Parts Three and Four
Terror of the Zygons — Part Three
The tricky thing when I’m enjoying a story is working out if parts of it really are as good as I think they are, or if I’m just giving it an easy ride as a result of my enjoyment. In the case of Terror of the Zygons, I’m thinking specifically about the special effects.
This episode is filled with them. We’ve got bits of CSO work, model shots, explosions and video overlays, and I think they all look pretty good. Oh sure there’s a bit of a contrast when they CSO a video image onto a film base (I think I’m right in saying that the avoidance of this is the reason Doctor Who and the Giant Robot was done all on video), but I think you get away with it, partly because it’s just such an exciting scene.
I didn’t have much issue with the dinosaurs during Invasion of the Dinosaurs, but I think actually seeing the Skarasen moving here is a massive improvement over the relatively static figures on display in that one. The two stories are only around 18 months apart in production terms, but this feels like a much more confident production.
There are occasions in this story so far where the CSO hasn’t been flawless, it has to be said. On the occasions where actors and Zygons are superimposed over a background to facilitate the transformation between the two the shots usually have more than their fair share of fringing, but I’m willing to overlook it because the effect works in context and doesn’t detract from the narrative.
And I’m not 100% sure, but was there some back projection in Part Two, when Harry was shown the Skarasen swimming around outside the Zygon spaceship? I was going to wind back and check, but I was enjoying the story too much to interrupt the flow and had forgotten by the end. If it wasn’t back projection then it was certainly some impressive CSO work, and if it was back projection… then good! It’s something which was used fairly often in the 1960s but got dropped when we switched into colour, and I think that’s a shame because it’s an effective tool. Making use of a wide array of techniques, as opposed to focussing too heavily on one thing, helps to hide the joins more, I think.
Aside from the Skarasen we get some lovely model work in this episode — the takeoff of the Zygon spaceship is brilliantly done, and the underwater scenes in particular really give the sense that we’re looking at a massive creation rather than something three foot wide and filmed through a fish tank.
Watching the craft fly off over the treetops makes me realise just how little of this sort of thing we got during the UNIT years with Pertwee’s Doctor Who. That a shot like this can still feel incredibly fresh after five years of superficially similar stories is really impressive.
But this episode isn’t all about the special effects — there’s plenty of story crammed in here too. I often complain on this blog about Part Three being the weakest part of a story, but I think this one avoids falling into the trap by keeping the mystery and suspense up throughout. We know by this stage which of the guest characters are secretly Zygons (spoiler: it’s all of them), but that doesn’t make it any less effective to watch our heroes walk around without that information.
I’ve really loved the nurse in this one, and this episode gives her a chance to shine as centre of attention. The sequence in which UNIT chase her through the woods and she flits back and forth between human and Zygon is so effective, and that it ends with her picking up a rock to smash some poor soldier’s head in… I maintain that they’re not making this show for children at this point.
And it’s not the only scary thing to happen in these 25 minutes. The moment when Doctor Who disappears into a tunnel, screams, and then we see the monsters emerging from the same tunnel has to be one of the scariest moments in the entire series. It manages to make the Zygons seem powerful in a way that most monsters would kill for, and hearing our hero in terror like this still seems so striking.
As much as I’ve been enjoying the darker, scarier tone to this story, it has risked losing some of the humour and lightness of touch which I’m usually so fond of. That’s not to say that there’s not been any joking around in this story. Part One gave us the companions in Doctor Who’s uniform, and Part Two had the Brigadier being told he’d fallen asleep on duty, but this episode contains perhaps my favourite joke of the story so far;
Duke of Forgill: ‘You’re all utterly unhinged. Must be. Aliens with wireless sets?’
Doctor Who: ‘Well, it takes all sorts to make a galaxy, your Grace.’
I’ve been so caught up in praising the work of Douglas Camfield and our regulars that I’ve negated to mention that this is the first of Robert Banks Stewart’s scripts for the programme, and he’s certainly hit the ground running. Where I spent a lot of time in Season Twelve debating how much of the work was from the original writers as opposed to Robert Holmes, this story has a distinct voice of it’s own. That said, it seems to chime perfectly with the direction the show wants to head in now, and perhaps that’s why it works so well?
I’m going for another 8/10 on this one.
Terror of the Zygons — Part Four
Retroactively, you can fit this rather nicely into a big timeline of the Time War, can’t you? Broton explains that they can never return because the Zygon home world has been destroyed in a ‘recent catastrophe’, and I think I’m right in saying that the New Testament suggests that it was an act in the Time War which destroyed it. I think that makes things interesting, because it’s generally accepted that Genesis of the Daleks is the first shots fired in the Time War, and now two stories later we’re already seeing the effects of the war reaching out across the universe. I don’t tend to be one of those people who wants every little bit of Doctor Who to link up and connect to everything else, but the occasional thing like this makes the whole tapestry of the programme feel a little more interesting.
It also means that I can imagine a story in which Broton gets caught up in the events of the war. Can Zygons transform themselves into Daleks? I suppose it’d be difficult to fit them into the body print pods…
I was a bit worried going into this episode, because after three very strong instalments the story is shedding the Scottish setting and heading south to London. In the end it was far better than I’d feared, but it does seem that there’s an odd mixture of padding and yet also too much story for these final 25 minutes. The idea of the Loch Ness monster swimming down the Thames is a great one, and I think the effect looks pretty good. I’m sad we don’t get to see any long shots, though. When Doctor Who watches events unfold from the balcony he could very well be anywhere.
If I had to guess I’d say they probably opted not to show the Skarasen in long shot because it would be trickier to get away with than the close ups are. I wonder if we could get a Special Edition for the Blu-ray release complete with added shots of a CGI Skarasen swimming down the Thames? I reckon it could well be one of the most iconic moments the series ever gives us as it swims past the Houses of Parliament.
I do wish a bit more had been made of setting this final episode in London, though. The shots we do get of the city look fantastic, and seeing the Millbank Tower again makes me think about how beautifully Camfield shot the city for The Invasion. I want to see Doctor Who, Sarah and Harry running along the Embankment rather than skulking about in some plain old sets inside. I also think I’d like to have seen a bit more of the Energy Conference. I’ve really loved the way everything has come together in this story (Sarah providing the vital clue of why the Duke was copied is brilliant), but once we get the the venue… well, I feel like I’ve been saying this a lot today but it honestly could be anywhere.
It’s not often I say it, but I think this story could stand to be longer. Extend it out to five episodes so we can have some drama as our heroes realise that almost the entire committee are Zygons and have to work out who they can trust as the Skarasen gets closer and closer, causing a tidal wave along the Thames! If there’s any story I’d happily watch a bit more of, it’s this one.
Anyway, enough complaining because there’s loads I’ve enjoyed here, and I’ll still be giving it an 8/10, which slots it very comfortably into my Top Five stories in this marathon so far. We get some more material with the lovely Zygon spaceship model in this one, including some great forced perspective work in the sequence where Doctor Who makes his escape. When it first landed in a quarry I’ll confess to being a bit disappointed — we see places like this all the time, while the Scotland setting felt more unique — but there’s actually something oddly exciting about seeing UNIT pull up alongside all the abandoned equipment.
It feels as though the story has finally gotten comfortable with the idea of injecting a bit more humour to events, and I love Doctor Who teasing Broton while he’s being held prisoner;
Doctor Who: ‘You’ve been hiding too long, Broton. It’s become a habit.’
Broton: ‘What do you mean?’
Doctor Who: ‘I thought the plan was to conquer the world.’
Broton: ‘The plan has not changed.’
Doctor Who: ‘But you can’t rule a world in hiding. You’ve got to come out onto the balcony sometimes and wave a tentacle, if you’ll pardon the expression.’
Broton: ‘In a few hours there will be no further need of secrecy. Have no
doubt, Doctor.’
The biggest let down in Terror of the Zygons is that Harry opts to remain behind at the end. He’s been a brilliant addition to the team, and as much as I’m looking forward to seeing Tom Baker and Lis Sladen on their own in the TARDIS, I’m really going to miss Harry. I can’t decide if his departure being so understated is a good thing or not, but it’s a lovely scene either way. Initially I was going to say that it feels out of place for them all to return to Scotland just to see Doctor Who off, and was going to suggest that it would have been great to see the ship parked on the Embankment. Actually, though, the police box looks so beautiful in the woods that I really can’t complain. There’s one shot in particular where you’ve got the TARDIS in the trees and Doctor Who grinning back at his friends and it’s beautiful.
Of course Ian Marter isn’t the only one bidding farewell in this episode (and he’ll be back later this week, anyway). This is also the last time we’ll be seeing Nick Courtney for absolutely ages. He’s been so integral to the programme over the last few seasons, and he’s therefore been a regular presence in this blog for quite some time. It feels like ages since I last singled him out for praise, so I want to make sure I do it here one last time before he takes a break. I think the beauty of what Courtney does is that it’s not a performance you’d often single out — he’s reliable and consistently good. I don’t think he’s ever given less than 100% and I’m really going to miss having him around.
Everyone talks about The Dæmons being a story where you can really tell that the cast and crew were happy making it, but I think that’s more the case with this story — and it’s certainly translated better for me here. You’ve got a team operating absolutely at the top of their game, and producing something that’s very confident. There’s some gorgeous behind-the-scenes images from the production, of Baker and Sladen in particular, which genuinely warm my heart. Really beautiful moments of genuine friendship.
