The Seeds of Death Episode Three

The one where the Ice Warriors' invasion plan begins...

We're on episode 3 already and I'm still wondering why this story is called The Seeds of Death. What seeds? Thankfully, that question is addressed by the end of the episode, in that the Ice Warriors intend to use the repaired T-Mat to distribute their, well... seeds of death across the Earth, beaming the expanding balloons into every major city on the planet (as well as Izmir, it seems!). As invasion plans go, it's a pretty nifty one, allowing the aliens to weaken the human enemy globally before making planetfall. That'll teach mankind to become so reliant on T-Mat!

Back at the start of the episode, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are still trapped aboard a directionless rocket, with the ever pragmatic Zoe boosting spirits by citing their survival odds, like some fleshy C-3PO. If the trio don't die by being smashed to smithereens on the mountainous landscape of the lunar surface, she insists that they will be drawn into the Sun in five months and 10 days (ironically, five months and 10 days from the original transmission of this episode is July 18th, 1969 - two days after Apollo 11 took off from Florida on its way to the first ever manned lunar landing on the 20th). She's a bag of laughs, that Heriot girl.

The Doctor and friends finally manage to land the rocket on the moon thanks to a homing beacon cobbled together by Phipps, who informs them that bipedal reptilian aliens with sonic devices have invaded. That'll be the Ice Warriors then. It's rather quaint how Jamie refers to having "met" the Martians before, like it was a perfectly amicable and congenial event!

Something else that makes me smile is how, as soon as Fewsham tells Gia and her colleagues to comply with the Martians - "Don't move, do exactly as they say" - the short tubby extra (Eric Kent, who looks like a well-fed Russell T Davies) makes a break for the door, waddling like an elderly duck with gout before being murdered with Mirrorlon! It has to be the worst escape attempt in 60s Doctor Who!

In previous episodes I've praised Michael Ferguson for his creative and stylish direction, and his flair is still in evidence here - notice the juxtaposition of Gia being surrounded by three Martians, with the following scene where female extra Monique Briant is framed by Radnor, Eldred and Brent - but I have to say that he goes a little too far in episode 3. This episode is 95% padding, and the scenes with the Doctor running away from the Ice Warriors in the moonbase corridors make it all the more obvious. Ferguson has tried to shroud the fatuousness of it all by having Patrick Troughton run up and down (why are the corridors designed like hillocks?), backwards and forwards, and, inexplicably, through a cavernous mirrored room for absolutely no reason. Yes Michael, it looks lovely, but let's ask ourselves why, just for a moment. This isn't stylish, it's just silly.

What with the rocket scenes, the Doctor's cartoonish flight, and Jamie and Zoe hiding in corridors (quite wobbly ones at that) from the Ice Warrior, there's far too much nothing going on. The plot only really kicks back in in the last few minutes, with Jamie, Zoe, Gia and Phipps coming up with a workable plan to attack the Martians with central heating (and oh look, there's a maintenance tunnel!) and Slaar making clear his ultimate plan for the distribution of his seemingly deadly seeds. We're to assume the seeds are deadly, because the story title tells us so, plus they'd be pretty useless as an invasion weapon otherwise - but the fact the Doctor has collapsed after breathing in the contents of an exploded pod means that they can't possibly be that deadly, because Doctor Who never dies, does he?

First broadcast: February 8th, 1969

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: I'm genuinely impressed by the Ice Warriors' invasion plan, which uses mankind's own technology against it. The Cybermen really ought to take lessons.
The Bad: Eric Kent's bumbling escape attempt.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

NEXT TIME: Episode Four...

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