Pyramids of Mars Part One

The one where the TARDIS lands at UNIT HQ before it becomes UNIT HQ...

Egypt! Somehow Doctor Who and Egypt feel like they go together well, especially during this particular era when stories were barely disguised reworks of favourite horror/ fantasy situations. Pyramids of Mars is obviously a riff on The Mummy, and is the second far-flung Earthbound location in Season 13 so far (yes, back in 1975, having a story set in Scotland was unusual enough to be called "far-flung"!).

It opens with a British Egyptologist discovering a hidden tomb jam-packed with reliquaries and ancient artefacts untouched since the first dynasty of the pharoahs (around 3,000BC). Professor Marcus Scarman typically dreams of plundering these cultural artefacts for his own ends, like every other British explorer of the period. But one thing's for sure: he won't get much help from the locals, as typified by his aide Ahmed, who flees in terror at the very sight of an Eye of Horus hieroglyph. Ahmed's fear doesn't quite make sense, as the Eye of Horus symbol represents protection, royal power and good health, intended to protect the pharoah in the afterlife and ward off evil. So what he's scared of I don't know. Scarman would appear to at least understand the reaction, as he calls Ahmed a "superstitious savage", suggesting there may be something to be feared historically...

Planet of Evil Part Four

The one where Sorenson goes full-on Mr Hyde...

Just look at the way director David Maloney and lighting guy Brian Clemett handle the death of Reig: it's stunning! Some of the directorial and lighting choices made by the production team in Planet of Evil - indeed, in many of the stories of this era - are just as ambitious, creative and ultimately effective as those made by Hollywood. Maloney's camera looks down from up high, giving size and scale to the unseen monster that bears down on Reig. And the use of that huge, monstrous shadow looming over the cowering Melvyn Bedford adds to the brutality of Reig's demise.

At long last, Vishinsky wrests command from the annoying Salamar, who doesn't give up too much of a fight at all. When Vishinsky declares: "I'm taking command!", Salamar just accepts the coup immediately, says something about Vishinsky regretting it, and slumps obediently into second position. It's another example of why Salamar should never have been in control in the first place: he doesn't even put up a fight for his job!

Planet of Evil Part Three

The one where Sorenson goes all Jekyll and Hyde...

Every time I watch Planet of Evil, I see it. I've never seen or heard of anybody else having seen what I always see. It's like a ghost hidden in the machine, a creature trapped in the master tapes. It's there - and to me it's as plain as day - in the cliffhanger to part 2 and the reprise in part 3. It's in the shot where the Morestrans and Sarah are watching the Doctor fall into the abyss via the oculoid tracker. They're watching the Doctor, but all I see is a strange, unsettling alien face looking back at them, as if trapped in the reflection. It's like something from The Outer Limits, or reminiscent of Marvel's Green Goblin or 2000AD's Mighty Tharg. Has anybody else ever seen it?

It's tricky to capture it clearly with a freeze-frame screengrab, but it's there: an eerie pointy-headed, long-faced creature (perhaps wearing a hat?) leering out of the screen. Am I going crazy? Am I seeing things nobody else can? If you see it, please leave a comment and let me know I'm not going totally bonkers.

Planet of Evil Part Two

The one where the planet refuses to let go of its minerals...

I love it when a minor player gets the chance to be noticed, and I particularly love it when that chance takes the form of a tremendously well-milked death scene. O'Hara is killed early in this episode by the anti-matter monster, and actor Haydn Wood takes the opportunity full-throttle and executes a delightfully melodramatic death, very different and much more energetic than those of his predecessors. And as with the death of Baldwin in part 1, evidence of the mechanics behind the scene are evident, when we see that the jungle floor is richly carpeted for him to fall on!

And still that jungle remains the star of this particular show. It can't be over-emphasised just how beautiful Roger Murray-Leach's set is, how rich, detailed and textured it all is. Carpeting aside, it's a faultless creation, and coupled with Brian Clemett's intelligent lighting, it makes for a totally convincing environment (in fact, Clemett's lighting is among some of the very best I've seen in the classic series). And Peter Howell's special sound when the creature passes by - a kind of glassy, tinkling, chattering effect - only adds to the creep factor.

Planet of Evil Part One

The one where the Doctor and Sarah are accused of murder... again!

The opening five minutes of Planet of Evil are highly reminiscent of Planet of the Daleks, what with its dense alien jungle and a spaceship with MFI door handles. We discover straight away that the year is the mind-boggling 37,166, and that several people have died, as Braun places a grave marker for the latest in a line of deceased, called Egard Lumb (what a wonderfully weird name!).

We join interplanetary geologists Baldwin and Professor Sorenson as they apparently refine crystals found on the ground into another, presumably more useful, substance. Sorenson is pleased with his discovery of some kind of seam, but Baldwin is anxious that there's not long left 'til nightfall, and is keen to get back to base. In true horror film style, bad things must happen at night here. But Sorenson seems unconcerned, more focused on the fact he's found a rich seam which may not be there tomorrow because, he thinks, the planet is sentient. It moves, it knows, it watches. Spooky!

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.