Day 214 — August 2nd 2021
The Seeds of Doom Parts One and Two
The Seeds of Doom — Part One
I think we’re in for something a little bit different with this one, and the tone is unique right from the off. I don’t think we’ve ever spent so long establishing the characters who’ll be appearing in the new story as we do here — to the point that Elisabeth Sladen doesn’t show up until twelve minutes into the episode. I’d usually be complaining about that, given that she’s usually responsible for being one of my favourite things in any given instalment, but you don’t massively notice her absence (or that of Doctor Who, who only shows up for a single brief scene in those twelve minutes) because the characters we’re spending time with instead feel incredibly rich and real.
That I’ve taken to and believe in the crew of the Antarctic base right away is a credit to Robert Banks Stewart’s writing. I enjoyed his work on Terror of the Zygons, so I’ve been looking forward to having him back and it looks like that faith has been rewarded. Even outside the base we’re being introduced to more characters, but they all feel incredibly well developed even with sometimes limited screen time. Chase only gets one scene in the whole episode, but I feel like I understand him completely right from the off, for instance.
The importance given over to the guest cast this week even extends to the cliffhanger, where we’re treated to one of them in peril rather than Sarah Jane or Doctor Who. It feels like ages since that’s been the case (I’m probably forgetting a really obvious recent one, but It still feels like a long time) and yet it also feels right here. I care about Moberley well enough after 25 minutes to find the cliffhanger exciting.
When Doctor Who himself does finally show up in the story, he’s written so well — it’s probably the best writing we’ve had for Tom Baker’s incarnation so far. Robert Banks Stewart seems to be able to walk that line between having him be charming and funny while also switching to brooding and serious and the balance works so well. I love the first reveal of our hero sat playing with his yo-yo while he’s being briefed on the situation (I can so imagine him doing that in a conference with the Brigadier), but as the stakes get raised he becomes increasingly morose and serious… and I buy it completely. I’ve talked a fair bit lately about how much I believe in the threat presented in each story, and Baker is totally selling me on the seriousness of their current situation.
During Pyramids of Mars I complained that I wasn’t a fan of the ‘Olympic Detachment’ angle being given to this Doctor Who, but I suspect it comes down to getting the balance right and selling the threat successfuly. As this episode goes on, Tom Baker slips into being angrier and more detached than perhaps we’ve ever seen him, but it feels suited to the situation on this occasion. There’s no talk of supposedly powerful gods in this one, it’s all about the reality of a genuinely scary situation. When he’s short and snappy with the humans here, it feels more like circumstance than a character choice;
Doctor Who: ‘Why did it open? Why?’
Stevenson: ‘Well, that, that could be my fault. It was frozen stiff when we took it out of the ice. I was certain there was still life there. I put in under a lamp and it started to expand.’
Doctor Who: ‘Mister Stevenson, what you have done could result in the total destruction of all life on this planet.’
Brilliantly, the darkness doesn’t push humour out of the story. This one is shot through with a real streak of black humour, and I love that Sarah Jane is still able to help lighten the mood whenever things risk becoming too serious;
Sarah: ‘Another pod!’
Doctor Who: ‘They travel in pairs, like policeman.’
Sarah: ‘What are we going to do with it, buy it a truncheon?’
Doctor Who: ‘No. Take it into custody and keep it in the freezer.’
There’s other examples peppered throughout the episode, and I think they all help to stop Doctor Who from becoming too detached from humanity. This certainly feels like a more competent attempt at this characterisation than we got in Pyramids, and I think I could get on board with this angle if it’s always as well-written as this.
It’s a solid opening episode, and an 8/10.
The Seeds of Doom — Part Two
Robert Banks Stewart isn’t the only returning creative I’m happy to see back on the series with this one — Douglas Camfield is back on directing duties, sadly for the last time. I’ve said it before, but I really think he’s the best director to have worked on Old Testament Who, and today’s two episodes are perfect examples of that.
A lot of his work is actually very simple and not especially showy. Some of my favourite shots in these episodes are simple close ups of the actors, and there’s some shots of Tom Baker in particular which are properly stunning. There’s something about the way Camfield lights and frames the actors which really lifts the shots above the average, and makes it look a lot more polished than I’m used to on the series, even from other extremely competent directors. I long for a world in which Camfield was put on a retainer and he shot the whole show on film.
Also impressive in these episodes is the location work for the exterior of the Antarctic. I think there’s some use of studio as well as being filmed in a quarry, but it looks fantastic across the board. There’s a particularly brilliant moment in Part One where the stock footage of the ice switches to newly-recorded material of the scientists uncovering the pod, and it’s impossible to spot the join. If anything it serves to show up the studio sets in The Brain of Morbius again, because it makes a world of difference when you’re somewhere real.
I think they’ve done a decent job of combining effects to make the snowstorm blowing look realistic, too. It’s a combination of overlaid footage and someone stood just off camera throwing bits of polystyrene at the cast, but it works. It’s helped along by some real attention to detail, too; when characters first get inside the base their clothes are still covered with bits of snow, but it’s all been brushed off by the time they’ve been inside for a little while. That sounds like a really simple thing, but it really does a lot for making it all feel ‘real’, and I’m not sure that every director or crew would have bothered.
There’s some fantastic model shots on display here, too, and they add to the effect more than I was expecting. Decent model work is a given with the series at this point, but this might be a new high. There’s a point in this episode where we see the base at night, with the model carefully illuminated, and it looks fantastic. Again it’s just going that extra mile with the production to really make everything stand out and pull together for a convincing finished location. I can quite happily believe we’re in the Antarctic here, and that’s all you can ask for.
I love how dangerous the landscape feels, and when the Krynoid first makes its way out in to the snow we get some of the best monster direction ever, as Camfield tracks the creatures’ shadow across the ground, interspersed with the occasional close up shot. I think I’m right in saying that the Krynoid costume was just an Axon painted green, but you never think about that while watching, because it’s shot so well.
Tom Baker, if possible, reaches new heights with this episode; I think it’s his best performance as Doctor Who yet. He continues to walk the fine line between serious and brooding vs comic relief that he trod so well in Part One, and I feel as though the situation here is genuinely dangerous. He’s completely selling it to me, and even when he snaps at Sarah Jane during one scene it feels totally true — it’s not the same as when Jon Pertwee used to snap at Jo over nothing. Here it feels desperate and fitting, which surprised me given I’m usually so dead against it.
Then in other moments he’s able to make me laugh out loud. I love the moment where Scorby orders him to put his hands up and turn around… which Doctor Who does absolutely to the letter, doing a full 360 and facing away from the man again.
When the base blows up at the end of this one it feels possibly the most desperate situation we’ve seen our heroes in yet. During Part One I wondered why Doctor Who and Sarah had taken a helicopter to Antartica instead of the TARDIS (which seems to be working a lot better these days), but the answer is simply to make this cliffhanger more dramatic… and it works. For the first time in a while one of these ‘absolute classics’ is turning out to be true to its reputation, with a 9/10.
