The Seeds of Death Episode One

The one where the Martians invade the moon...

Right from the very outset, this serial screams AMBITION! It starts off with different episode title credits, which although not a unique difference, demonstrate an attempt to add scale to the piece. The model planets, and the way the camera passes them to reveal other celestial bodies beyond, is pretty snazzy for the time, and along with Dudley Simpson's melodramatic score, tells the viewer instantly that this is a futuristic space epic.

Director Michael Ferguson returns for his second Doctor Who story, having made a huge impact with his debut, The War Machines, three years earlier. The ambition and flair in Ferguson's work is breath-taking, especially after some of the more pedestrian efforts of recent stories, and although it can sometimes become distracting and self-conscious, the injection of enthusiasm for what Ferguson's shooting stands the test of the decades.

Take the opening shot, where the camera slowly lowers from the T-Mat Earth Control sign to peer through a porthole into an impressive set populated by men with clipboards busying around flashing computer consoles. Ferguson's camera tells us where we are, then physically takes us into the story, where we meet our new cast of guest characters. The director isn't afraid to try what must have been time-consuming camera set-ups either, such as the beautiful shot where we zoom in past a female extra to a T-Mat booth, Osgood disappears, then we zoom back out again. The complexity of pulling off that shot has to be admired, all these years later.

Paul Allen's design for T-Mat Earth Control is stunning, and reflects Ferguson's ambition and quest for scale. The set is huge, detailed and layered, providing plenty of surfaces and barriers for the camera to shoot over and past. If Ferguson can squeeze in an adventurous camera shot, he will, and we're treated to plenty of examples, whether it's a beautiful depth of field shot with Gia Kelly foregrounding Commander Radnor, or Brent looking through a mesh display, or Kelly talking to Brent from behind an opaque screen. It's dizzyingly filmic.

Bobi Bartlett's costume design lets the side down, however, with everybody wearing all-in-one jumpsuits which accentuate the crotch area thanks to some black piping that makes everybody look like they're wearing space nappies! However, the gorgeously tactile outfit worn by Louise Pajo as Gia Kelly is fab, making me wonder why they couldn't all wear similar outfits.

Adding to the futuristic feel is John Witty's quirky computer voice, which he delivers as a monotone stream of consciousness, devoid of any punctuation. I really like the idea that, if a computer had a voice, it would not include the human characteristics of full stops and commas, rather like a spoken telegram STOP

There's further nifty camerawork when T-Mat's lunar control is invaded by an unseen alien force, and Ferguson uses the camera as the invader's point of view, with the terrified operatives looking into the lens, as if at their attacker. Holding back on who or what the alien is, putting the viewer in the position of the aggressor, really cranks up the tension, and builds expectation beautifully. Sadly, Ferguson doesn't maintain this trick throughout the episode, but opts to gently reveal a little more later on by shooting over the alien's shoulder, allowing us to only glimpse it.

This culminates in a masterful reveal at the end which goes against expectations, flashing Slaar's helmeted face up for a split second during a rapid montage of actors' faces. The viewer thinks they spot something alien, but then it's gone again, and when it's shown once more, we're still not sure what it is... until we see the Ice Warrior! Remember, Ice Lords were completely new to viewers in 1969, so they would not have automatically thought 'Ice Warrior'... so the quickfire reveal and use of the traditional Ice Warrior costume to compound what these aliens are is all the better. This is a story that the director has really thought about, and the professionalism and consideration for the subject shines through.

So, what of the Doctor? Well, it takes just over eight minutes for the TARDIS team to show up on screen (a third of the episode passes before they make an appearance) and in the scenes that Patrick Troughton, Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury do have, they make little impact on the story. I confess that my heart sank when the Doctor claimed they'd landed in a space museum (oh no, not a return to Xeros)! Our heroes' exploration of the museum serves to fill us in on what T-Mat is and what it's done for and to interplanetary travel in the future. It seems the power to transfer people and items from A to B in an instant has completely scuppered mankind's sense of adventure and exploration, and all plans for travel through and beyond the stars by space rocket have been shelved.

It's an interesting idea, but it's fatally flawed. I mean, you have to go to a place first in order to set up a T-Mat receiving booth and station, and for that you'd need alternative space travel (ie rockets). And the fact mankind has consigned rocketry to history makes the vulnerability of T-Mat all the more stupid, as demonstrated when the lunar T-Mat operation goes down and Commander Radnor finds that he has absolutely no way of getting to the moon to fix the problem. It's really, really stupid.

A quick mention for Terry Scully as the troubled Fewsham. His performance is beautifully edgy, portraying a man who appears to be at the limit of what he can cope with from the very start. The mistakes he makes at the beginning of the episode are not explained, but we can tell that Fewsham is stressed, anxious, jittery. Something's bothering him before the story begins, even before a bunch of scaly aliens have had chance to cause trouble. Every anxiety is etched on Scully's face, often shown in stark close-up, and you feel for the man, even though you're not sure why.

Also, what a blood-thirsty episode! Within the space of 25 minutes, we lose Osgood, Locke and an unnamed technician (who performs an impressive stunt dive over the control bank!). These Ice Warriors mean business, with their scaly chins, whispery voices and Mirrorlon death rays.

First broadcast: January 25th, 1969

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Michael Ferguson's camera flair.
The Bad: Bobi Bartlett's space nappy costumes.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

NEXT TIME: Episode Two...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode Two; Episode Three; Episode Four; Episode Five; Episode Six

Find out birth/death dates, career information, and facts and trivia about this story's cast and crew at the Doctor Who Cast & Crew site: http://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-seeds-of-death.html

The Seeds of Death is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Seeds-Patrick-Troughton/dp/B01I076ZYO.