Terror of the Zygons Part Four

The one where the Loch Ness Monster swims up the Thames...

The Duke of Forgill is apparently Chieftain of the Antlers Association, which is not some sort of Masonic-style secret membership club for noblemen of the Scottish Highlands as you might expect, but actually a private bar in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (it's true, Google it!). The Duke is a man of many facets, obviously. Sarah's research also unearths the fact the Duke is trustee of the Golden Haggis Lucky Dip (whatever that is) and president of the Scottish Energy Commission. It's worth knowing, that is...

The Zygon ship makes its merry way down south, headed for London where the monsters can create havoc and thus take over the world (somehow). The Zygons use a jamming device to switch off every piece of radar equipment in the UK so that their ship can pass unnoticed as it flies from Scotland to Brentford. The Zygons are very keen on not being seen, whether it's their spaceship or the Skarasen crossing Tullock Moor (I still don't understand why the Skarasen needed to cross the moor for all those centuries).

Terror of the Zygons Part Three

The one where UNIT goes Zygon-hunting...

OK, so despite me lavishing praise on the Skarasen's realisation in episode 2, it does actually look rather silly in this third episode. Its eyes swivel rather randomly, and when it looms over the Doctor with its giant flipper, it looks nothing other than comical.

The Skarasen is apparently a cyborg, a hybrid of half-animal and half-machine (which bit produces the lactic fluid, I wonder?). The word cyborg was coined in 1960 by scientists Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline, but the idea of a half-mammal, half-machine creature stems back as far as the 19th century, in Edgar Allan Poe's The Man That Was Used Up (1843), and really took off in science-fiction literature in works such as Jean de La Hire's Nyctalope and the works of Edmond Hamilton. But the word itself was very fresh by 1975, so all credit to Robert Banks Stewart for having his finger on the pulse.

Terror of the Zygons Part Two

The one where the Doctor is chased by the Loch Ness Monster...

As fantastic as that cliffhanger is, I'm not totally clear on what follows. The Doctor finds Sarah cowering in the decompression chamber, but was she imprisoned there by the Zygon, or is she hiding there? And if she is hiding, how did she escape the Zygon and get into the chamber without it seeing her? I always used to assume the Zygon that attacks Sarah is the one disguised as Sister Lamont, but it can't be, as Sarah has only just left Sister Lamont in the sick bay, and the Zygon comes from a different direction. The fact we don't see what happens between Sarah and the Zygon makes her discovery in the chamber slightly puzzling.

Nevertheless, Douglas Camfield continues to direct this story like it's a horror film. The fleeting glimpse we get of the Zygon before it slams the chamber door shut is masterful, and the bit where the Zygon snaps the blinds shut so the Doctor can't see out only adds to the chill factor.

Terror of the Zygons Part One

The one where the TARDIS team meets UNIT in Scotland...

The episode opens with a shot of an excellent and perfectly detailed and convincing model of an oil rig in the ocean, but the model doesn't stick around for long because it starts to break up and sink into the icy depths. Pity poor rigger Munro, whose appeal for some haggis on the next shipment over will forever go unheeded. He wanted haggis because he's Scottish, you see.

We're then treated to a gorgeous introductory scene for our heroes, the Doctor, Harry and Sarah, as they emerge from the undergrowth on a remote Scottish moor (the original introductory scene, with the TARDIS materialising in a wood, was cut, but is available on the DVD. That's lovely too). It's great to see them again, Harry with the Doctor's scarf wrapped round him (although he still hasn't changed his clothes), Sarah donning the Doctor's floppy hat, and the Doctor himself wearing a tam o'shanter and tartan scarf as he follows the signal of the Brigadier's Time Space Telegraph. Douglas Camfield's direction is gorgeous, accompanied by some beautiful pastoral music by Geoffrey Burgon using wind instruments.