Underworld Part Four

The one where the Minyans get their race banks and the quest is over...

It makes a change for the good guys and the bad guys to actually talk things through and agree to cooperate for the greater good. Ankh and Lakh ask Herrick what it is the Minyans want, and when Herrick says they just want their race bank cylinders, the domeheads agree to go and get them, and release Herrick unharmed, as long as they all just go away! Makes a change.

What exactly are Ankh and Lakh though? In part 3 they state that they are not Minyan descendants, they have "evolved far beyond them" and are servants of the Oracle, "seers of the realm of Hedas". So they are not humans, and we can see that when they take their hoods off to reveal their domed heads. They look like robots, but how can robots evolve from humans? Nothing more is revealed about what these two characters are, and once they put their hoods back on, it's all forgotten about and they just become like any other hooded baddie. It seems a bit pointless to have them look like that at all if it's not going to be explained. It's not even as if they helped provide a cliffhanger. Baffling.

Underworld Part Three

The one where the Minyans and the trogs join forces...

As if seeing the end of part 2 wasn't punishment enough the first time around, the reprise lasts a full 1 minute 40 seconds, recycling the same bland footage, including that vital vent action! And just to reaffirm the fact we're watching Underworld, director Norman Stewart gets to recycle some footage, reversing it when the vent sucks the gas out.

One thing I will say though, is that this scene with the gas must have been quite tricky to get right, as it involves three different layers. You've got the real-world props of the vent and the air control, as well as an actor, then you've got the CSO background they inhabit, on top of which is a third complication of overlaying the rising gas level. It might still look rubbish, but I bet it wasn't easy to set up. I'm damning with false praise there, aren't I? Well, it's the best I can do.

Underworld Part Two

The one where the R1C plunges into a CSO underworld...

The R1C manages to shoot its way out of the 100 metre thick rocky skin that's formed around it, and proceeds to follow the P7E's signal, which just happens to be coming from the core of a planet. The effect of the ship plunging into the half-formed P7E planet is excellent, the ultimate splashdown! You can't knock the model effects guys on Underworld.

But then something horrific happens: everything goes CSO. As the R1C tears through the body of the planet, heading for the centre, it causes a "skyfall" at the core. Cue lots of drably dressed people running and screaming from left to right through Colour Separation Overlay caves. And then, shamelessly, exactly the same shot again. Then these drably dressed people are seen trying to lift very obviously polystyrene rocks. It's all so shockingly bad, a jarring contrast to the intelligent mystery of part 1.

Underworld Part One

The one where the TARDIS lands on a ship that starts to become a planet...

The opening shot of this episode made me giggle! Not that it's poor, not by any means. Doctor Who went off-air for three weeks over Christmas 1977, and in that gap, on December 27th, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (or whatever it was called back then!) premiered in British cinemas, with its acclaimed special effects, and that now legendary opening shot of the Star Destroyer pursuing the Tantive IV. And what does Doctor Who do the moment it's back after New Year? A tracking shot across a starscape, and then the ickle old TARDIS comes sweeping into view as if to say: "Star Destroyers? Pah!" I know it wasn't planned that way, but the irony doesn't escape me!

Actually, the model and special effects in this episode are pretty impressive, even in 2020. There was one point where I had to check I hadn't accidentally activated an Updated Special Effects option on my DVD because I couldn't believe how well the effects had aged. The spinning spiral nebula looks like something the new series would do, and the model of the R1C ship flying through space looks completely convincing, with not a wobble in sight. I'd say the modelwork is even better than The Invisible Enemy's. Doctor Who might have started to look cheaper at this point in its history, but the guys doing the models were burning on all cylinders.

The Sun Makers Part Four

The one where the Doctor meets a talking sea kale...

The one point at which I find myself quite enjoying Henry Woolf's performance as the Collector is when he's talking about the enjoyment he gets from the duodecaphonic sound of a public steaming. "The deeper notes of despair, the final dying cadences. The whole point of a good steaming is the range it affords." At that moment, the Collector is a nasty little git, a villain worthy of booing. As the Doctor says, he's a "fish-blooded sadist". But otherwise, he's just a silly Davros rip-off with remarkable eyebrows.

Naturally, the Doctor manages to rescue Leela from the steam chamber (entering like Agent Mulder with a searching torch beam). After that, it's Team Doctor all the way as he rallies the rabble and orchestrates a way to overthrow the Company. The plan is to rig the public address system to issue some fake news that the rebellion is succeeding, and in tandem with the reduction of PCM in the air, this should incite an uprising among the workers, and result in an actual successful rebellion.

The Sun Makers Part Three

The one where Leela is sentenced to public execution by steaming...

Louise Jameson really is the star of this story, and I'm not surprised to learn that it is her favourite of the nine she recorded. Leela is so well characterised, and gets some good, strong scenes, even if they don't really move the plot along (what plot there is). The start of part 3 sees Team Leela (the savage, lofty Bisham, timid Cordo and tin dog K-9) take on two MegroGuards in their buggy, but it's one of those sedately choreographed and directed fight scenes which makes it look like under-rehearsed children in the playground (there were similar problems in The Invisible Enemy).

The guards are predictably useless, as almost all guards are in the science-fiction genre, being unable to hit a barn door at three paces, but perfectly capable of waiting patiently to be shot down by a rubbish laser beam. There's no urgency or jeopardy in the way these fight scenes are staged, and the buggy Leela and co commandeer is no better than Doctor Who's most infamous of rubbish vehicles, The Happiness Patrol's go-kart. It's pathetically slow, but all the guards can manage is a glancing blow to Leela's forehead.

The Sun Makers Part Two

The one where the Doctor enjoys the delicacy of a raspberry leaf...

In my review of part one I mentioned my dislike for Tony Snoaden's set design, especially for Gatherer Hade's office, as it reminded me heavily of the 1981 children's educational series Chock-A-Block. Not everybody will get that reference, but a quick Google Image search will show you what I mean. But the likenesses don't end there: as well as the Chock-A-Block computer looking like Snoaden's set design for The Sun Makers, there's also the jumpsuit costume design (Chock-A-Bloke and Chock-A-Girl look like they could be Marn's contemporaries), the Chock-A-Truck that's like the buggies driven by the MegroGuards, the data blocks inserted into Chock-A-Block that look like Plutonian ConSumCards, and the way the kids' series presenters watch clips on a little TV monitor, rather like Hade and Marn observing their tracker.

The thing is, The Sun Makers predates Chock-A-Block by four years, and as far as I can tell, the two share no production personnel. So it's perhaps just a massive coincidence that the two seem so alike to me, but the fact is the similarity ruins my ability to see The Sun Makers for itself.

The Sun Makers Part One

The one where the Doctor and Leela prevent a suicide...

There's nothing as certain as death and taxes, and it's very clever of writer Robert Holmes to combine the two in the opening scene of this new story! D-grade foundry worker Cordo is informed by a woman speaking from a hatch high up in a wall that his father has died. Cordo seems happy about this, as it was reportedly a "fine death". But when somebody dies on this world, it means there's a price to pay, and in this case it's a death tax. Cordo is sent to the Gatherer to pay the tax for his father's "golden death", but when he gets there it seems the tax has gone up, and he owes 117 talmars instead of the expected 80.

It's a lot to take in about this new world all at once, but there's a maturity to the writing which is sadly not reflected in the design. Tony Snoaden's corridors, and especially the Gatherer's office, are like something out of 1981 children's show Chock-A-Block, as are the costumes by Christine Rawlins. I mean, it's 'a look' I suppose, but not really one I appreciate. To me, it looks cheap. The design of the Gatherer's office is so haphazard, it barely looks designed at all. Mismatching colours and shapes and angles, all colliding to make one big mess. The only striking thing about it is the use of Aztec iconography as emblems, which was apparently a nod to the work of Mexican propagandist art, but to me it just adds to the mush of ideas.

Image of the Fendahl Part Four

The one where the Doctor blows up another priory...

The Fendahl finally manifests in human form, using the body of poor Thea Ransome, which it decides will look even better if painted head to toe in gold. And admittedly, Wanda Ventham does look utterly stunning in gold. I didn't think it possible for Wanda to look any more beautiful than she does anyway, but as a shining gold angel of death, she is magnificent. The rise of the Fendahl from flat on its back to standing upright is done really well too.

No sooner has the Fendahl manifested, it begins to soak up more life forces by killing its own coven, beginning with wily old Ted Moss, who's turned into a fendahleen sluglet. This does not go down well with Max, who is stunned that the creature he reawakened and hoped to control has now turned on the very people who worshipped it. Max's world is in tatters, and to make matters worse, he's looked the Fendahl in the eyes, which means certain doom.

Image of the Fendahl Part Three

The one where Max begins to summon the ancient power of the Fendahl...

Leela to the rescue! For the first time this story, Leela makes it to the priory proper, and instinct tells her the Doctor is in trouble, and she finds him wracked with pain clutching Eustace the skull. She kicks the Doctor's chair from under him, making him fall on top of her in a heap on the ground. If this was Doctor Who as written by Steven Moffat, the sight of the Doctor lying nose to nose on top of his sexy, scantily-clad companion would result in some kind of distasteful, perhaps even inappropriate, lewd comment or suggestion. Thankfully, this is written by Chris Boucher, and the only allusion made is to the Doctor's weight.

The Doctor says that the skull is the Fendahl, an ancient entity which absorbs the life force of those around it. "It eats life itself." And down in the priory cellars, mad Max has poor Thea tied up and drugged, intending to use her as the physical medium through which the Fendahl will manifest. Max refers to "the ancient power of this place", suggesting the house itself has something to do with the Fendahl, but as far as I can work out, it doesn't. Fendelman's time scanner awoke the power, but that power is not "of this place" as such, is it? Either way, Max's ambition is to control the supreme power of the ancients. "I shall be a god!" he announces, all crazy-eyed. Scott Fredericks has the perfect glare for a villain.

Image of the Fendahl Part Two

The one where we find out who the real bad guy is...

I just love the liminal atmosphere of this story, the feeling that there's something terrible lurking around the corner, on the fringe of this reality and another. There's a definite supernatural feel to the story, in that there seems to be something creeping around of a nightmarish, otherworldly quality which could be explained away as ghosts. The scene where something unseen slowly squelches its way toward the kitchen door as Mitchell watches is so well done. And then the door bursts open, and you don't see a thing, until George Spenton-Foster cuts away and we soon hear Mitchell's agonised screams in the distance. When Thea and Adam find him, he is dead, the same way as the hiker - with a mysterious blister on his neck (is this ever explained?).

Thea collapses (she's good at that) but before Adam can respond, the Doctor strides in and commands: "Don't touch her!" Within micro-seconds, Tom Baker is in charge. But sadly, not for very long, because he has very little to do in this episode, and has minimal involvement with the real story. It's like a Doctor-lite episode.

Image of the Fendahl Part One

The one where an ancient Kenyan skull appears to possess a beautiful scientist...

The very first shot of this episode is a close-up of a human skull. Right from the beginning, Image of the Fendahl does not mess about, and is determined to creep the viewer out with a gloriously uneasy atmosphere which is built up expertly by director George Spenton-Foster and writer Chris Boucher. Credit must also go to the ever reliable Dick Mills for his "special sounds" which add layers of atmosphere.

Handsome scientist Adam Colby has nicknamed the skull Eustace (perhaps a nod to American paleontologist Eustace L Furlong, who had a plesiosaur named after him), but the funny thing with Eustace is that it appears to date back to a time eight million years before mankind roamed the Earth. Adam finds it hard to accept that the skull is that ancient, even though the fact has been arrived at by his beautiful colleague Thea Ransome, played by the stunning Wanda Ventham (an actress who appeared in Doctor Who every 10 years, like clockwork!).

The Invisible Enemy Part Four

The one where the Nucleus enters the macro universe and begins to incubate...

It's really, really bad, isn't it? That awful prawn costume for the Nucleus is one of the most embarrassing missteps in Doctor Who history, up there alongside Mestor, human Dalek Sec, and the frog universe. It's actually really good as a giant prawn fancy dress outfit - I think anybody wearing that would probably win any crustacean cosplay contest - but as a Doctor Who monster, flood-lit on brilliant white sets, it's simply abominable. John Scott Martin does as much as he can inside the costume to make it fearsome, but a constant quiver and the occasional shuffle do not a Weeping Angel make. At least John Leeson's voice is suitably grim, giving the Nucleus an obsessive, rasping, burbling intensity. If you just listen, it's OK!

It can't even walk. You wouldn't really expect a giant prawn needing to walk, but the script does require it to get from the lab to the spaceship, resulting in comedy scenes of two actors having to support John Scott Martin by each arm/ frond as he shuffles along the Bi-Al corridor, screaming "Hurry! Hurry!" I think I can hear the collective laughter of 8.3 million viewers seeping its way through the soundtrack...

The Invisible Enemy Part Three

The one where the cloned Doctor and Leela go inside the real Doctor's body...

The big problem with this third episode is that it has to stretch a 10-minute time span over a 25-minute period, and the padding shows. The cloned Doctor and Leela only have a lifespan of 10 minutes (and that should really start before they've been injected into the Doctor), but this episode is 25 minutes, so inevitably there's going to be some artistic license employed. Why didn't the writers didn't just say the clones would last 20 minutes instead of 10?

While this episode has little going on, it has an awful lot to look at, with director Derrick Sherwin using the ubiquitous CSO (Colour Separation Overlay) to depict the insides of the Doctor's brain. And for the most part it's hugely successful, adding a suitably fantastical and surreal feel to the Doctor and Leela's journey. Brian Clemett's coloured lighting is fab too.

The Invisible Enemy Part Two

The one where we first meet K-9...

"I'm fighting for my mind," the Doctor confides in Leela, who he managed not to shoot dead after all. The Doctor is in mental turmoil, battling with an alien organism for control of his mind, and it's actually quite heartening to see this most independent of Doctors asking Leela for her help. He seems helpless and afraid, which is unusual for this incarnation. And of course, the ever-faithful Leela is determined to support her mentor in any way she can.

I must confess, I don't really understand the logic of the Nucleus's plan, or "purpose". It seems unnecessarily obsessed with trying to destroy the reject (ie, Leela). Why is it so important to destroy the reject, why not just ignore it, unless it tries to interfere, then destroy it? A lot of energy and time is spent trying to destroy Leela.

The Invisible Enemy Part One

The one where an alien entity possesses the Doctor...

The model work by Ian Scoones and Tony Harding in this episode is so good, a real step up for Doctor Who, which at this point in time was competing with some pretty solid opponents in the form of Gerry Anderson's UFO and Space: 1999. The way Scoones and Harding shoot the spaceship model, especially when it comes in to land on Titan, bursts with confidence and ambition and wouldn't be out of place in an episode of Thunderbirds. It's a pity there's a bit of a wobble sometimes when you see the ship in flight, but you can't have everything!

The visual effects are impressive all round in this episode, including the lightning cloud in space which traps the spaceship, and then the TARDIS. This really looks like Doctor Who has been given a bit more budget to do this, and it's paying dividends because it feels very "space opera" in a Frontier in Space kind of way (but better still).