The Seeds of Death Episode Two

The one where the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe fly to the moon in a rocket, but don't need to...

I'm watching The Seeds of Death just days after the death of Alan Bennion has been reported, so it's timely that I should mention what a fantastic vocal performance he puts in here. Cleverly, director Michael Ferguson continues to hold back on showing Slaar too much, and we're treated to sparing glimpses of his pock-marked, fanged face, adding to the mystery. Bennion's hoarse, whispering voice depicts Slaar as an intelligent but dangerous creature, and he oozes gravitas despite limited screen time.

On the other hand, Ferguson is more than happy to show the Ice Warriors fully, which in some ways works against them, because they're terribly slow and cumbersome. These 20th century Ice Warriors always walked so gingerly, due to the unwieldy nature of the costumes, and the strident ferocity of the 21st century versions excels in that sense. The scene where the Ice Warrior searches for Phipps in the store room - so beautifully framed in a slow zoom out by Ferguson - is slightly undermined by the fact the Warrior struggles to heft his bulky frame through the door. Moonbase door frames aren't made for Martian physiques, I suppose!

Terry Scully continues to impress as the twitchy Fewsham, portraying the character's fear so clearly, every anxiety written on his strained face. Fewsham is a weak man to begin with, and so when faced with the might of alien invaders, he's bound to submit and do as he is told. I like the underlying theme of survival here too. In episode 1, Fewsham reminded Phipps how Osgood died: "You saw! Do you think I want to die like that? I want to live!", and there's something slightly desperate and telling in the way Scully delivers those last few words. It's not in the script of course, but something tells me that Fewsham has a thing about living (don't we all?), which might explain why he seems so depressed and distraught from the moment we meet him. Something's on his mind... has he been diagnosed with something terminal? I realise this is wild supposition, but there's definitely something in Scully's performance that tells me there's more going on in Fewsham's life than T-Mat and Ice Lords. In episode 2, Slaar tells Fewsham: "You know what will happen if you fail... you will die!", and again, Fewsham looks rattled. Even his colleagues don't rate him for some reason (Gia says Fewsham is "not capable" of fixing T-Mat).

There's also some great characterisation in the way Brian Hayles writes Radnor and Eldred, former colleagues separated by ideology. It's clever how Hayles has the two old sparring partners talk ever so slightly more intimately, with barriers half down, referring to each other by their first names (Daniel and Julian). It makes the relationship, and the history between them, more believable, and Ronald Leigh-Hunt in particular gets this across well.

What I do find frustrating about this story is the complete pointlessness of the Doctor, Zoe and Jamie. Everything we've seen so far could have happened without their presence, and they have precisely no impact on events around them. You might think they get directly involved by volunteering to pilot Eldred's rocket to the moon to fix T-Mat, but Hayles pulls the rug from under that plot development by having Fewsham fix the T-Mat link so that Gia Kelly can zip up to the moon and beat our heroes there! So while Gia is busying herself around the T-Mat lunar base, the Doctor and friends are pratting about in space, knocking out some awful zero gravity acting, and becoming less and less involved in proceedings. As Zoe says at the end, their spaceship could drift on endlessly through space... and they still wouldn't be missed by what's going on in the main story! I do get annoyed when the Doctor doesn't get involved. It's like he's a guest star in his own series (a doom-laden voice from the near future warns of worse to come in the next serial...!).

Plus, the ease with which the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe volunteer to pilot the rocket is rather naive, given the catalogue of dangers which could kill them - the homing signal not working, the refuelling station not working, only having food and water for three days... And the fact their space journey is rendered pointless in the end is all the more annoying! Plus, why aren't they wearing spacesuits?!

As an aside... can you spot the funky robot in the background of the space museum scenes? I've never seen it before, and I'm pretty sure I've not seen it as a prop in anything else, but the fact it's there must mean it was created for another production and used as set dressing here. I love that little robot.

There's loads more little moments in this episode that I love, mostly down to Ferguson's imaginative direction. There's death by Mirrorlon (still a weird effect today); the array of projections over Kelly's face during the rocket launch (OK, they're just random patterns, but Ferguson's showing off and it looks great!); the way Zoe snaps at Gia over the radio ("Wait a minute, can't you?"); the three-layered camera shot showing the backs of Radnor and Kelly, Brent on the monitor, and then the interceding Eldred; the determination of Kelly to take responsibility, threatening to go over Radnor's head if he tries to stop her; the well-edited death of the Ice Warrior, who is literally reduced to a puddle on the floor.

And then there's the gorgeous slow zoom in on Fewsham as he sits alone at T-Mat Lunar Control, waiting in quiet resignation for the arrival of Gia Kelly, when he knows that the Ice Warriors are waiting too, and that he has been complicit. He's a broken man, and for a director to take the time to complement an actor's performance in order to depict a character's state of mind is a rare and valuable thing. Michael Ferguson really is one of Doctor Who's best ever directors, and his work is a joy to watch.

First broadcast: February 1st, 1969

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Ferguson's two high shots, zooming out of Phipps in the store room, and in on Fewsham in the control room.
The Bad: Take the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe out of this story and nobody would notice their absence. Events would still happen as they do. Unforgivable.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★★★☆

NEXT TIME: Episode Three...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Episode One; 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.