Horror of Fang Rock Part Four

The one where Leela's eyes change colour...

"Shameleon factor"? What's all that about, Doctor? It's surprising that someone as well-read and knowledgeable as Tom Baker could get the pronunciation of such a word so wrong, but then this isn't a unique example. He also wavers on the pronunciation of Rutan in this episode, while other Doctors have slipped up too, including the Seventh bodging Spiridon in Remembrance of the Daleks, and the Eleventh fudging Metebelis III in Hide.

Within moments of this episode opening, poor, sweet, innocent Vince is killed by Reuben the Rutan, which is such a crying shame. This era is scattered with deaths like these, characters that you get attached to, and so you feel it more when they die (Dr Carter in The Hand of Fear, Runcible in The Deadly Assassin, Casey in The Talons of Weng-Chiang...).

Horror of Fang Rock Part Three

The one where Adelaide regrets not listening to Miss Nethercott...

I'm not sure whether Terrance Dicks intended Adelaide Lesage to be quite so annoying, or whether it's as a result of Annette Woollett's shrill interpretation, but either way that girl needs a slap to shut her up. She erupts into hysterics at the slightest hint of trouble, and someone needs to give her one of those bracing slaps across the face that all "delicate" Victorian ladies received from stiff-upper-lipped gentlemen in the old films. These days it's the other way around: men tend to get slapped by women, including our very own Doctor.

Adelaide regrets not listening properly to her astrologist, Miss Nethercott, who gives her a reading every month, and had last warned of tragedy in her stars. Adelaide now feels rather foolish for not listening to Miss Nethercott, and wishes they'd never left Deauville. And so the moral of the story is to listen to your astrologist!

Horror of Fang Rock Part Two

The one where the survivors of a shipwreck arrive at the lighthouse...

It's a stroke of genius by writer Terrance Dicks to shake things up a bit and bring in four more characters in part 2, merely adding more fodder to this claustrophobic base-under-siege tale. But Leela seems less than happy to see these shipwrecked survivors. When Reuben points out that it's too late as the ship strikes the rocks, Leela moodily replies: "They will all die then," as she petulantly turns away from the scene. She seems to be in quite a mood for some reason, not taking kindly to being tasked with sounding the siren (although she eventually learns to find childish fun in it!). I do love Louise Jameson's acting choices: Leela's every mood and whim is so plain in her physical performance.

While sounding the siren, alone in the lamp room, Leela spies a strange green blobby creature with tentacles down on the rocks. It's hardly an impressive-looking foe, but it seems it's one to be feared...

Horror of Fang Rock Part One

The one where the Doctor and Leela encounter murder in a lighthouse...

It's Doctor Who's fifteenth series. A new season, a new start, a new story. And Paddy Russell means business from the off, with a strange pink comet falling from the sky above a beautifully convincing model of a lighthouse. Actually, the shot of the model lighthouse on the rocks, its light blinking intermittently, looks marvellous, but is rather spoiled by the effect of the bright pink comet, which looks less convincing. We then get an idea that something is watching the lighthouse, perhaps something not of this world...

The setting is a lighthouse circa 1900, and one that has recently been converted from oil to electricity, a fact that causes some friction between the three-man crew. The small cast is a delightful bunch. We've got principal keeper Ben, second-in-command Reuben (a gruff, elderly man with some 30 years of experience under his straining belt!), and rookie Vince Hawkins, all played as a convincing "family" by Ralph Watson, Colin Douglas and the very sweet John Abbott. Ben and Vince are all for the new electric technology, whereas old Reuben prefers the traditional whale oil. It's great to have a bit of background as they discuss the pros and cons of each over supper. Writer Terrance Dicks obviously did his homework!

The Talons of Weng-Chiang Part Six

The one where Weng-Chiang's true identity is revealed...

Tom Baker is so 100% The Doctor in this episode, commanding the screen with the greatest of ease and dominating every shot he's in, never mind every scene. It wouldn't be long until Baker's interpretation of his Doctor would slacken a little, soften up and become less commanding, but this really feels like one of the final examples of this version of the Fourth Doctor. The first meeting between Weng-Chiang and the Doctor is delightful, with Tom switching from light and playful to deadly serious effortlessly. "What have you done to her?" he asks of Leela. "Nothing, yet," teases Weng-Chiang, to which a steely Doctor replies: "Take my advice. Don't."

You really would not cross this Doctor, not this version for sure! It's another example of how the Doctor seems to have developed a great fondness for the savage Leela. He expressed concern for her several times in The Face of Evil (even throwing a flesh-eating monster at someone for slapping her across the face), and here his concern shows through again with a barely veiled threat.

The Talons of Weng-Chiang Part Five

The one where Jago and Litefoot finally meet...

The Doctor and Leela return to Litefoot's house to find a policeman dead in the garden with an axe sticking out of his back. A gruesome death indeed, especially for a family programme. Perhaps even more gruesomely, the Doctor pulls the axe out of the policeman's back to use as his own weapon (yes, I know he'd never use it, but Dr Who and axes really should not mix).

After reuniting with poor Litefoot, who gets his fair share of bumps to the head in this story, the Doctor miraculously deduces that Mr Sin is something called the Peking Homunculus, a robotic toy from the year 5000 with the cerebral cortex of a pig. It apparently almost caused World War Three, then went missing, never to be found, but it's obviously turned up here, in 19th century London. How the Doctor deduces that Mr Sin is the Peking Homunculus is a huge stretch. I mean, Sin could genuinely be a homicidal midget for all he knows. The Doctor says the homunculus "hates humanity", but it obviously has a soft spot for Professor Litefoot, who it refuses to actually kill!

The Talons of Weng-Chiang Part Four

The one where the Doctor becomes a magician's assistant...

While I'm not offended by the use of "yellowface" in this story (my views on this were set out in part one), I do think there's a fine line being crossed in the writing at times. There are lots of racist references to Chinese people in Robert Holmes's script, but many of them can be excused as being representative of how people would have spoken in the late 19th century (rightly or wrongly). I don't mind a script pursuing verisimilitude by being brave enough to reflect the racism which was rife at the time, but sometimes I question Holmes's choice.

For instance, when Leela refers to Chang as "the yellow one" at the start of this episode, it doesn't quite ring true, because a) Leela is not from this culture so wouldn't harbour racist views, and b) Chinese people aren't yellow, so she couldn't have picked it up just by looking at them. It's also inappropriate for the Doctor to refer to Chang's "epicanthic eyebrows", an observation that a benevolent alien would not make unless he was prejudiced in some way (which I'm sure the Doctor isn't). It's actually just Robert Holmes trying to be clever with his alliterative dialogue, but in truth it feels unnecessary.

The Talons of Weng-Chiang Part Three

The one where Leela jumps through a window...

As the 450th episode of Doctor Who gets underway, we have a snorting, knife-wielding sentient ventriloquist's dummy shambling towards the Doctor's companion, something I doubt would ever have crossed the minds of the script writers back in '63! It's all so deliciously dark. Some might argue too dark, especially when the companion picks up her own knife and hurls it at the throat of the approaching creature - AND IT JUST KEEPS ON COMING! Horrific stuff. Strange that we didn't get a comedy B-DOINNNG sound effect when Leela threw the knife though, like we did in The Robots of Death just weeks earlier.

In order to escape the porcine peril, Leela decides to hop, skip and jump bodily through the window, which is the first time a companion has ever done this (but not the last!). It's this scene, and the one later where Leela escapes the clutches of Weng-Chiang in the underground lair, which makes me think the savage isn't being written quite as bravely as previously. She's still spirited and ballsy, but she seems to give up that little bit quicker, and I don't think Louise Jameson quite maintains Leela's huntress demeanour. I guess that might be something to do with the fact she's having to act in lacy knickers rather than her usual loins!

The Talons of Weng-Chiang Part Two

The one where Leela enjoys/ devours a cold collation...

Our heroes escape the giant rat by throwing an oil lamp at it and scarpering back up the ladder onto the street. The Doctor assumes the rat is a guard, keeping people away, but if that is the case, why was poor cabby Joseph Buller mutilated by it before being chucked in the river? He was killed on the street by a stab to the heart by Mr Sin, so how did he get down into the sewers before being washed up?

Li H'sen Chang visits a secret lair deep beneath the Palace Theatre, which is home to his beloved master, the god Weng-Chiang. Writer Robert Holmes was obviously lifting wholesale from Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, and the scene toward the end of this episode, where the Doctor pursues Weng-Chiang among the theatre flies and rigging, is another iconographic steal. Weng-Chiang is not a well man, it seems, and requires the bodies of young women to put into his distillation chamber, which sucks the life essence from them to give to him. So far, so gruesome.

The Talons of Weng-Chiang Part One

The one where the Doctor and Leela find a giant rat in the sewers of Victorian London...

Doctor Who has always felt right and comfortable in Victorian times. The first time the Doctor visited the Victorian era on TV was The Chase, but this story is one of three prime examples in classic Who, along with The Evil of the Daleks and Ghost Light. It's something to do with the BBC's perennial talent at depicting the era that makes these Doctor Who stories so memorable. The 21st century series has also made the most of this ideal setting in stories such as The Unquiet Dead, The Next Doctor and The Crimson Horror.

Of course, the main thing that overshadows The Talons of Weng-Chiang these days is the controversy surrounding the portrayal of Li H'sen Chang, a Chinese illusionist, by a Caucasian actor, John Bennett. In these more enlightened times, a director would never contemplate casting a non-Asian actor in an Asian role like this, but back in the 1970s, this was quite common and acceptable. It might not be acceptable now, but it was in 1977, when this serial was made, and that is how the story must be judged. If you judged everything in history using the morals and ethics of 2020, everything would seem wrong, but it's important to view things in context. Nobody who made The Talons of Weng-Chiang intended to offend, that was just the way TV drama was made at the time.

The Robots of Death Part Four

The one where the Doctor uses a squeaky voice to defeat his enemy...

Don't get me wrong, I love Pamela Salem and everything she does: she's sexy, a fantastically capable and strong actor, and she's one of many wonderful things in Remembrance of the Daleks. But my goodness, isn't Toos a wet blanket? A strong woman like Salem should not be playing wimpy, tied-to-the-railway-lines damsels in distress like Toos, she's meant for tougher, more impressive roles. When V6 tries to strangle Toos, all she does is whimper and whine, pleading for mercy. "No, please, no! Please!" she cries, uselessly. She doesn't even try to run away. Quite maddening really.

The robots really step it up in this final episode, stalking the corridors of the Sandminer looking for humans to kill. The face-off between the Doctor and Uvanov, and three robots coming at them from all directions, is great, and the fact one of the robots is a defective crazy repeating its aim to "kill, kill, kill" is really spooky. It's amusing that the Doctor escapes by disguising a robot with his own hat and scarf, because it does seem that robots have quite limited vision, at least when they've been modified.

The Robots of Death Part Three

The one where the robots go on a killing spree...

So, Commander Uvanov has form when it comes to murder. Ten years previously he left a crewmember outside to die so that he could maximise his lucanol haul. Rather than being reprimanded and punished, the company he worked for just gave him a slapped wrist and forgot about it, simply because he was the best, and most lucrative, sandminer pilot they had. Profit before morals. The man left out to die was none other than Zilda's brother, which is why she hated him so. Makes sense now. And two of the three people aboard this sandminer who know all this are now dead (Zilda and Kerril), so watch your back Poul!

But for some reason, the Doctor does not trust Chief Mover Poul. Maybe it's something to do with the fact Leela says he moves like a hunter, always watching and listening. The Doctor thinks he's lying (but about what isn't clear), so charges Leela with the task of following Poul, watching the watcher, hunting the hunter. Sadly, Poul's too clever by half and manages to lock Leela in the lounge, giving her a much-reduced role in this episode.

The Robots of Death Part Two

The one where the Sandminer crew starts dropping like flies...

Over the years the Doctor has shown that he carries some pretty wild and wacky things around in his pockets, everything from a tuning fork and a box of drawing pins, to a Polaroid camera and a felt tip pen. But one of the weirdest has to be the blowpipe that he uses here to breathe above the sand. Now, I'd accept it a little better if it was the same one he used in the Matrix in The Deadly Assassin, but then I suppose that wasn't a "real" blowpipe, so he couldn't have had that on him. It's not even the sort of blowpipe the Sevateem might have had.

The Doctor is rescued from the scoop by SV7, a wonderful performance by Miles Fothergill. The fluidity and harmony these robots exude is so cool, and Fothergill does it so well, and with that wonderfully calm and silky voice too. When things start to get very panicked and desperate aboard the Sandminer, it's great to see the robots untroubled by it, just carrying out their duties in their usual serene manner.

The Robots of Death Part One

The one where the Doctor explains dimensional transcendentalism...

I'll be honest from the get-go: The Robots of Death is one of a handful of stories I had on VHS back in the late 1980s when I was developing rapidly as a fan, and I absolutely adored this serial. I played that tape so often I'm surprised it didn't snap. The Robots of Death, along with The Talons of Weng-Chiang, Spearhead from Space, Terror of the Zygons, Pyramids of Mars and Death to the Daleks, were the Doctor Who stories I built the foundations of my fandom on, so in reviewing this story, I'm going to try my hardest to be objective.

But it's so hard when you've got such fabulous, rich material like this. There's no denying that it's bloody good, and right from the start too. Actually, I'd quite forgotten just how impressive that opening model shot of the barren, windswept alien landscape is, with the beautifully designed Sandminer rolling inexorably across the tundra. It looks so epic, and I love the establishing shot of the bridge seen from the outside too (done so much better than a similar shot of the Hyperion III a decade later!).

The Face of Evil Part Four

The one where the Doctor removes himself from the mind of Xoanon...

Pennant Roberts, a director new to Doctor Who, was not the best at fight or action scenes (prime evidence: Warriors of the Deep). The struggle at the start of this episode between the Doctor, Leela and the Tesh is staged quite clumsily, with very little natural fluidity. The stuntman was Terry Walsh, who I'm guessing also arranged the fight scene, but this time around Walsh fails abysmally, perhaps restricted by the set, who knows? The struggle ends with the Doctor pushing the Tesh against the wall, which Xoanon has made lethal, and so yet again the Doctor is responsible for somebody's death (albeit in self-defence).

Meanwhile, the Sevateem are making their way through the mouth of the idol towards the Tesh ship, and when Calib and Tomas see the (really unconvincing model of a) Mordee ship, they realise that the Doctor was right all along. The ship, to them, is the gateway to paradise, and it's both heartening and tragic to see everything seer Neeva believes unravel before him. He now realises Xoanon is his enemy, and is determined to seek revenge for his tribe.

The Face of Evil Part Three

The one where the Doctor realises this is all his fault...

The lumbering shadow turns out to be a man in a spacesuit resembling the one worn by Neeva as a sacred garment. It's at this point that the Doctor sees a spaceship on a distant plain beyond the mountain, in a model shot which looks simply awful. It's a very plain plain indeed, and looks just like a toy spaceship, having no sense of scale or environment. When he sees the ship, it all comes back to him: "I remember now. The Mordee expedition. And I thought I was helping them."

We discover in this episode that everything we see on this planet has come about through the past involvement of the Doctor. The Sevateem, the Tesh, the time barrier, the mountain idol, Xoanon and the Evil One, they're all a direct result of the Doctor's previous visitation. Ironically, he has failed to recall this previous visit until now, until he sees the Mordee ship. You'd have though his memory would have been jogged by the word "Xoanon" more than the distant view of a spaceship, but who am I to question the way the Doctor's mind works?

The Face of Evil Part Two

The one where the Doctor faces the Test of the Horda...

It's so intriguing that the Doctor cannot remember how his face came to be carved into the side of a mountain on an alien planet he's never been to before. It's like something Steven Moffat would write, pulling the audience in with a seemingly impossible truth, then showing how that impossibility is possible (although with Moffat, the solution wasn't always very clear to me!).

I love the relationship that's developed so easily and swiftly between the Doctor and Leela. It feels like they have been companions for longer than one episode, the two actors appear to be quite at ease in one another's company. The thing is, I know that this was not the case, that Tom Baker was quite dismissive of Louise Jameson, feeling the character was not needed and that he could carry the series by himself. Behind the scenes, tensions ran high, so the fact the Doctor and Leela seem to gel so well on screen is testament to the professionalism of both actors. I think the tension would be more evident in other stories, but here, it feels lovely.

The Face of Evil Part One

The one where the Doctor is mistaken for the Evil One...

There was a whole seven weeks between the end of The Deadly Assassin and the start of this next adventure, putting a sizeable gap right in the middle of Season 14. People didn't mind so much back then. There'd been a three-week pause over the Christmas period during Season 13, and the same would happen with Seasons 15 and 18 (indeed, Warriors' Gate was even promoted as the first in a "new season" of Doctor Who). When it came to inserting a pause of a few months into the middle of Series 6 in 2011, fandom was in uproar, but even that was nothing in comparison to the immense gaps between series these days (entire years can pass without so much as a peep from the Doctor).

The Face of Evil opens with an argument between a bunch of scantily-clad primitive types who accuse the beautiful Leela of blasphemy, by claiming their god Xoanon is not real. Leader Andor intends to cast Leela out from the tribe, and her father Sole agrees to take the Test of the Horda in his daughter's place (after both Leela and her maybe-boyfriend Tomas both declined!). Within minutes of the episode opening, Leela's father has been killed and she is ejected from her tribe into the jungle wilderness. And to top it off, the unpleasant shaman Neeva instructs two tribesmen to go after her and kill her!