The Leisure Hive Part Three

The one where an ally proves to be a lizard in disguise...

One aspect of JNT's stylistic revolution I've not gone into very much so far is the radically different incidental music, in this case provided by Peter Howell. Veteran composer Dudley Simpson had pretty much had a monopoly on Doctor Who for the last few years (except if Douglas Camfield was directing!), but as dependable as he was, it was certainly time for a change. Simpson's first work for the show was for Season 2's Planet of Giants in 1964, and his last was for Season 17, so he'd had 15 years (on and off) to give Doctor Who all he had, and I think, to be fair, that's what he'd done.

The switch to music provided by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop on a more permanent basis (Simpson was not a member of the Workshop, which had only scored three Doctor Whos in the past*) was another way to modernise and refresh the programme. Howell, as well as updating the theme music, scored The Leisure Hive with an ocean of gorgeous synthesised soundscapes. There are waves of sound washing over the visuals, draping and drenching it in sci-fi ambience to match the snazzy graphics and model shots. The score manages to be moody and nimble, and stands shoulder to shoulder with Brian Eno's work with David Bowie on the Low and Heroes albums, and also calls to mind the early, innovative work of musicians like Gary Numan, John Foxx and Vangelis (Howell's score sounds very Vangelis sometimes, to be extent that it starts to become the score from Bladerunner in my head!).

Director Lovett Bickford continues to try and make Doctor Who look like a movie, with sweeping tracking shots and carefully composed dialogue scenes which, while coming across as terribly self-conscious, look beautiful. This is a man who has thought a lot about what he wants the story to look and feel like, and while there might be reasons to call his judgement into question (pacing is a real failing), there's no denying The Leisure Hive is one of the best-looking serials in classic Who. So many shots are considered, like the low shot looking up at Pangol and Vargas at the Generator controls, followed by the high shot looking down on the Generator hall at night, all lit beautifully by Duncan Brown. It's a feast for the eyes.

Tom Baker is wonderful as the aged Doctor, and it's nice to see him given something to perform for a change, rather than just be Tom Baker. He gives the Doctor a magnificent stillness in old age, a contemplative melancholy, helped enormously by Dorka Nieradzik's skillful make-up and the white wig and beard. "I'm sick of being old," the Doctor moans, always looking into the middle-distance, as if in shock over what's happened to him. He makes for quite a sorry, pathetic pensioner, and you can't help but feel for him.

Adrienne Corri is also impressive at portraying the dying Mena's suppressed agony. As elder stateswoman of Argolis, Mena still has her responsibilities, and her fondness for the Earth scientist Hardin continues to make itself apparent. There's definitely something going on between them, even if it's just spiritually or emotionally, and it's a delightful nuance to the character. Corri brings an elegant gravitas to Mena in her dying days. It's a lovely, truthful performance.

Hardin is given one more chance to try and make his time experiments work and push back Mena's expiry date. What he thought was a success was actually an epic fail after what happened to the Doctor, and despite Pangol's protestations, he's determined to have one last go (his devotion to Mena fuels this). The trouble is, Hardin will insist on having Romana's help, basically admitting that he can't do it himself and he's pretty much not up to the job. In the end, Mena denies Hardin his Romana.

A lot develops plot-wise in part 3 as we learn why Pangol seems to be the only young Argolin in the Hive. The race was rendered sterile by the war with the Foamasi, and cannot procreate, and are also cursed by an accelerated ageing process, which is why most Argolins look old (although it's not strictly true, as Martin Fisk - who plays Vargos - was only 34 years old). So why is Pangol so youthful? It's because the Argolins have been secretly experimenting with the Tachyon Generator to try and revive their race, cloning their DNA to create new Argolins. Pangol is not Mena's son at all, he's a clone, a "child of the generator"! The Argolins want to perpetuate their existence by becoming a cloned species, like the Sontarans! For years Pangol has been experimenting with the Generator to create more clones, some of which have failed, and he mentions that there will be no more "disfigured mutants". That seems like a missed opportunity, to have a subplot about the mutated Argolins. Perhaps, as in Genesis of the Daleks, they were banished to the planet's surface, and would act as a credible monstrous threat through the four episodes? It does feel like The Leisure Hive needs something more, and mutants outside the Hive could be just that.

Young Pangol has the taste of revenge upon his lips. As soon as Mena has popped her last bead, he will become ruler of Argolis, and plans to wreak revenge on the Foamasi, who obliterated the planet during the 20-minute war 40 years ago.

Talking of the Foamasi, there's an intriguing development in their offer to buy Argolis. It's not the Foamasi government that's making the offer, it's a break-out group calling themselves the West Lodge, like a lizardy version of the Freemasons. A Foamasi makes contact with Romana and the Doctor, and the scene where Romana walks in with a Foamasi on her arm is embarrassingly silly. There's no careful revelation of what a full Foamasi looks like (after spending so long teasing them with glimpses and close-ups), it just wanders into the room unannounced in all its tailored glory.

June Hudson was a genius costume designer, responsible for some of Doctor Who's best work in the field, but she didn't have a 100% track record (I'm still appalled by her Romana outfit for The Creature from the Pit). Her design for the Foamasi costumes leaves an awful lot to be desired, especially when in the brightly lit Hive sets. The costumes look exactly like costumes, sewn up in a tailor's workshop, and although the heads work quite well, the fuller body suit is laughably unconvincing. They look like little tubby men in green onesies, more endearing than fearsome. It's a shame because they were given such an eerie build-up by Lovett Bickford in parts 1 and 2, but as with a number of other Doctor Who monsters, once you see them in their full illuminated glory, you're left suppressing a chuckle rather than a scream.

The cliffhanger sees the Doctor's friendly Foamasi crash Mena's boardroom meeting and tear Mr Brock to shreds. Mr Brock is not an Earth agent at all, he's a Foamasi wearing a human flesh-suit! It's a bit of a surprise that it's Brock who's in disguise and not his spooky silent lawyer Klout, whose cadaverous flesh-suit we saw hanging in Brock's wardrobe. The Foamasi "defrocks" Brock rather savagely, with Bickford closing in on John Collin's terrified eyes before a scaly claw tears away his human face. OK, so the practicality of fitting a big tubby lizard inside a human suit will have to be glossed over (at least Russell T Davies came up with the compression field explanation for how the flabby Slitheen did it in Aliens of London. We must be thankful we don't get farting Foamasi I suppose).

* For fact fans: The Wheel in Space (Brian Hodgson), The Sea Devils (Malcolm Clarke) and Revenge of the Cybermen (Carey Blyton)

First broadcast: September 13th, 1980

Steve's Scoreboard
The Good: Tom Baker as the elderly Doctor.
The Bad: The Foamasi costumes are disappointing.
Overall score for episode: ★★★★★★☆☆☆☆

"Would you like a jelly baby?" tally: 24

NEXT TIME: Part Four...

My reviews of this story's other episodes: Part One; Part Two; Part 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: https://doctorwhocastandcrew.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-leisure-hive.html

The Leisure Hive is available on BBC DVD. Find it on Amazon - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doctor-Who-Leisure-Hive-DVD/dp/B00022VMR6