The Dæmons Episode Five

The one where Jo saves the day by offering to sacrifice herself...

It's an interesting idea that what we classify as magic is actually just a form of alien science that we don't understand. It sort of matches the belief that anything supernatural or paranormal is actually just the result of some kind of scientific discovery we have yet to make. It's an ingenious idea to have Azal awoken by psychokinetic power, the gathering of violent emotions such as greed and fear, which forms the basis of the Daemons' science. To us, psychokinesis is a paranormal mystery yet to be cracked, but to the Daemons, it's E=MC².

So you'd think that the Doctor might try and defeat Azal using the power of his own science, harnessing the collective psychokinetic energy of the villagers and UNIT personnel to fight back against him. But instead, he plans to use some dodgy gadget he's got Osgood to lash up, and which actually blows up before it can be of any use. The Doctor's very last resort is to just walk into the cavern and hope he can reason with Azal.

While the Doctor chances his arm inside, UNIT has a job on its hands with Bok the bloodthirsty gargoyle, who is very ably defending the church. He may be rather sweet and diminutive, but Bok packs a powerful punch and makes for a formidable adversary for the UNIT chaps. The battle looks amazing - actually, it sounds more amazing thanks to some clever gunfire overdubbing which we very rarely see - and for once, UNIT come across as a capable force.

But alas, even their bazooka can't destroy Bok, who merely reconstitutes himself after being obliterated (the brief shot of the motionless Bok just before he's blown up is a little comical as it looks like he's sitting on the loo!).

Not even the Brigadier can defeat the stony blighter ("What the blazes is that, some kind of ornament?"), although it does lead to one of Nicholas Courtney's most iconic scenes when the Brig calls Jenkins to his side and mutters: "Chap with the wings there, five rounds rapid!" Of course, bullets can't stop it, and the only thing which has the power to stop Bok is the destruction of Azal himself.

Which brings us back inside the church cavern, where, 11 minutes in to the last episode, the Doctor and the Master finally meet again (it's surprising they don't lock horns a little earlier, just as it is surprising that the Brigadier spends so little time in Devil's End itself). There follows a quite laborious conversation between the two Time Lords and Azal which takes longer than it might because Azal shouts so very forcefully (and he appears to be having a little trouble with his false teeth!).

The Master asks Azal for his powers so that he can rule Earth in his own fascistic manner. Azal says no, that the Doctor deserves his powers more, but the Doctor doesn't want them. He'd rather Azal just shoved off in his spaceship and allowed mankind to get on with it. His theory is that the Daemons have empowered humans to such a degree that they are now perfectly capable of eliminating themselves. This is unavoidably true, but Azal ain't listening because he has been instructed to either bequeath his powers, or destroy the Earth "experiment". There is no Option 3.

Checkmate? Nah, because Jo Grant has a trick up her sacrificial sleeve and offers to give her life in place of the Doctor's. "No, he's a good man. Kill me, not him!" screams Jo, and with that, the battle seems won, as Azal can't cope with Miss Grant's "irrational and illogical" self-sacrifice, and begins to clutch his head and glow pink. Everybody runs away, the church (and Azal) blows up, and it's over (even the Daemons' spaceship at the barrow self-destructs).

It's so disappointing as a climax, especially when you think there could have been a much more exciting and tense final battle if the Doctor had used the collective psychokinetic powers of the villagers to defeat Azal. It seems so obvious to me to do that, and I'm sure they would have done it that way in 21st century Who (the power of good overthrowing the menace of evil). Maybe the Doctor only thought of this plan afterwards, and decided to keep it until he really needed it, in Last of the Time Lords?

Characteristically, the Doctor doesn't say so much as a thank you to Jo for saving his life, and in fact saving the entire world, which he seemed eminently incapable of doing. If I were Jo I'd be pretty disgruntled with the Doctor in this story, what with the dual humiliations he served her earlier in the story, and now his ungrateful dismissal packing her off to the pub (why are her clothes in the pub when they were removed in the church?).

The final scene is lovely, with the Master attempting an escape by swishing his cloak over Benton, but foolishly choosing to make his getaway in Bessie, which, of course, the Doctor has a remote control for. The Master's discomfiture is palpable, and he's bundled off on the back of a UNIT jeep, headed for a maximum security prison (what, no trial?). I love the fact the villagers all boo him out of Devil's End!

Then everybody decides to have a jolly good dance around the May Pole (Miss Hawthorne has her designs on Benton as she wants them to join the fertility dance!), except for Yates and the Brigadier, who retire to the Cloven Hoof for a pint. I'm not sure who's going to serve them, because Bert the landlord's dead. The final shot is a glorious zoom out (looking down from the church tower which isn't there!) taking in the entire village green and surroundings of Aldbourne, and anybody who's ever actually visited the location will know how splendid it is. Aldbourne has barely changed in the half-century since Doctor Who filmed there, it's still just as quaint and unblemished as it was then, so this beautiful final shot is like a big thank you to the villagers, sealing Aldbourne in time like a fly in amber.

The Daemons is a story adored by much of fandom, and certainly by the film crew and cast which spent time there making it. You can understand why it's thought of with such fondness: it's got some powerful folk horror themes, has the entire "UNIT family" in it, as well as the Master and Bessie and classic moments such as "five rounds rapid" and "I'd rather have a pint". But when you actually think about the story, it doesn't amount to very much: Azal basically takes four episodes to come out and stay out, and in the meantime everything else is just waiting around. The sum is greater than its parts.

And so Season 8 is over. It's been a rather repetitive run of stories thanks to the ever-presence of Roger Delgado as the Master, but it has felt much more like Doctor Who than Season 7 did. We need a break from the Master now (although the fact he's being put in prison suggests we'll carry on seeing him), and if Colony in Space proved anything, it's that Doctor Who needs to leave Earth more. It's just more interesting than having all the monsters come to South-East England all the time!

In the Doctor's absence, BBC1's Saturday teatime slot was taken by summer sports coverage, The Pink Panther Show, Walt Disney, The Partridge Family, Whacko! and, on Christmas Day, the pantomime Aladdin - none of which could compete with the killer plastic daffodils, collapsing faces, walnut-headed aliens and Pagan sacrifices of Doctor Who!

First broadcast: June 19th, 1971

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: UNIT versus Bok outside the church.
The Bad: Azal is defeated far too easily and quickly, and moreover, conveniently. I mean, how does Azal know that Jo even means what she says?
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ (story average: 6.8 out of 10)

"Now listen to me" tally: 13
Neck-rub tally: 5

NEXT TIME: Day of the Daleks...

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

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/2014/05/the-dmons.html

The Dæmons is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-D%C3%A6mons-Jon-Pertwee/dp/B006LI50HI