The Masque of Mandragora Part Four

The one where Sarah attends a 15th century Italian knees-up...

And so Count Federico is dead. Very dead. And attentions turn to the next best villain of the story, Hieronymous himself, now possessed by the power of the mighty Mandragora Helix. It is stated that the god Demnos is a mere servant of Mandragora (such blasphemy goes unchallenged by the brethren), and the cowled brothers begin to circle the altar in a slightly shabbier version of Geraldine Stephenson's choreography for the Sisterhood of Karn in The Brain of Morbius.

Hieronymous says that Mandragora will "swallow the moon" (let's hope it has a taste for eggs), which automatically tells us that a lunar eclipse is on the horizon. Now, we've already established that there's no date stated within the story itself for when all this takes place, but Philip Hinchcliffe's novelisation claims it to be 1492. Records reveal that there were three lunar eclipses in 1492, but none of them were at the Doctor's calculated time of 21:43:08. The closest lunar eclipse to that time within the 15th century was at 21:43:56 on December 18th, 1488 (another close-but-no-cigar eclipse took place at 21:44:03 on June 11th, 1481), so we're still no closer to learning when this story is set. As far as the information given in the actual televised scripts written by Louis Marks goes, it's most likely to be 1488, providing the Doctor got his sums very slightly wrong by a few seconds.

The Doctor rushes back to the palace dungeons to tell Rossini that his beloved leader Federico is dead, and that he must release Giuliano as he is now back in charge. Remarkably, Rossini and the guards believe the Doctor's word, and order is very swiftly restored. It's a bit of a stretch that Rossini would take the Doctor's word for it, and is typical of the pat plotting Marks employs in this story. Another example is that Hieronymous conveniently knows of a secret way into the palace which is unguarded, although we're never shown where this entrance is, or anybody using it. Hieronymous needs the brethren to get into the palace, and so there's suddenly a means to do it, despite the palace being blockaded by Giuliano's men.

And then there's the ending, of course, in which the Doctor cleverly uses science to drain off the Helix energy, but also demonstrates a remarkably suspect talent for ventriloquism and mimicry (previously demonstrated with equal silliness in The Celestial Toymaker). The Doctor speaking in Hieronymous's voice is supremely unsatisfying plot-wise, but it also begs the question of why the disguised Doctor goes to all the trouble of impersonating Hieronymous to take the surviving nobility down to the temple, only to reveal himself as the victor all along. The Helix is long gone/ drained off by the point that the Doctor attends the masque. Is he just doing it to show off?

Plus, nobody's particularly bothered by the fact several Italian noblemen and women have been slaughtered already, very likely some of them kings, dukes and doges. This would severely alter the course of history, but seems to be conveniently overlooked in favour of having the Doctor grin inanely and ask for a salami sandwich. It's not a good ending for a story which feels like it's been leading up to a much more impressive finale all along.

But there are positives. I mean, the entire masque set-up is delightful, with Elisabeth Sladen looking stunning in her 15th century frock, and the design of the masks adding suitable grandeur to the scenes. There's even a tumbling fool (sorry, Stuart Fell). I really do not think there have been many Doctor Who stories more lavishly designed than this, and it's mostly down to the legendary Barry Newbery and James Acheson (who went on to win no fewer than three Oscars for costume design for the films The Last Emperor, Dangerous Liaisons and Restoration. And it all began with Doctor Who!).

And let's not forget to mention (again, 'cos he deserves it) lighting designer Dennis Channon, who plays a blinder when the lunar eclipse begins, plunging the masque into blood red, heightening the atmosphere considerably.

There's also some wonderfully glib lines from the Doctor in this episode, including my favourite, when he casually asks Hieronymous: "Hello there. Had a hard day in the catacombs, have you?" He's also wonderfully mercurial when responding to the fact Giuliano is going to stage a masque: "You're going to hold a dance? Sarah will love it! Save me a costume, I love a knees-up!" The ease with which Tom Baker goes from gloomy and irritable to exuberant and fun in that scene is a fine example of how Doctor Who should be played.

As is common with Hinchcliffe era stories, the ending comes abruptly, although this time we do get to say goodbye to guest characters, Giuliano and Marco (left together alone in the woods at last...). The Doctor wields a huge salami as a farewell gift, and takes a shot at Da Vinci's "impractical" design for the submarine (Google it: he's not wrong!) - although it has to be said that Leo is several years off sketching his submarine device yet.

The Doctor also mentions that the Mandragora Helix may well return to threaten Earth in 500 years ("the late 20th century"), which you'd think is hinting towards a sequel. It was a sequel which never came on TV, but there was a prequel in prose form in David A McIntee's The Eleventh Tiger (featuring the First Doctor), and the referenced sequel in Doctor Who Magazine's comic strip The Mark of Mandragora (featuring the Seventh Doctor). It also crops up in Gary Russell's Tenth Doctor book Beautiful Chaos (in which the Helix is defeated by Alzheimer's), and was originally to feature in The Sarah Jane Adventures story Secrets of the Stars.

The Masque of Mandragora is one of the best-looking stories in the entire Doctor Who canon, but the story flags considerably, and writer Louis Marks never really delivers on his promise of a grand finale. The Helix is pretty much defeated off-screen, which is disappointing, as is the fact the Doctor doesn't get to meet Leonardo Da Vinci. That would have been a lovely little moment to round off the story, but instead we get salami and submarines. A missed opportunity, which rather sums up the story for me.

First broadcast: September 25th, 1976

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: The masque itself is splendidly staged.
The Bad: The underwhelming defeat of the Mandragora Helix, and the Doctor's preposterous ventriloquism.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ (story average: 5.8 out of 10)

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 05

NEXT TIME: The Hand of Fear...

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

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/2014/07/the-masque-of-mandragora.html

The Masque of Mandragora is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Masque-Mandragora-DVD/dp/B002SZQCB6