Doctor Who - The Seeds of Death
"The Seeds of Death" was a six-part serial, first broadcast on BBC TV between 25 January 1969 - 1 March 1969. It was written by Brian Hayles (and Terrance Dicks, uncredited), and directed by Michael Ferguson. It starred Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon and Wendy Padbury as Zoe Heriot.
I have such fond memories of "The Seeds of Death". It was my first ever Patrick Troughton story - thanks to it being the first Second Doctor adventure ever released on VHS - and, like "The Krotons" before it, I think it's another underrated jewel in Season Six's crown. After their impressive introductory tale, the Ice Warriors were well deserving of a comeback, and here the Martian invaders return in another attempt to conquer the Earth. Their plan to use seed pods to destroy human life via humanity's latest technological marvel - T-Mat - is so simple and, yet, so devious.
In many ways "The Seeds of Death" can be considered a direct sequel to "The Ice Warriors", with T-Mat mirroring the Ionizer and its controlling computer from that earlier story. Even the supporting characters are similar - Julian Radnor (Leader Clent), Daniel Eldred (Scientist Penley), Gia Kelly (Miss Garrett). However, there are a number of added elements - including the base on the Moon and the Earth weather control station (both highly reminiscent of Season Four's "The Moonbase"), the two new classes of Ice Warrior (Warlord and Grand Marshal), and the alien fungus that threatens to sap Earth of its oxygen - to keep things different and interesting.
Patrick Troughton gives another stellar turn as the Doctor. Here he's bristling with suppressed fury that gives his clown-like performance a real edge. One of my favorite moments is his attempt to escape the Ice Warriors in the Moonbase. He slips and slides, turns and twists, and does priceless comic double-takes at every distorted mirror reflection. Finally, when the Ice Warriors have him cornered... he talks his way out of it: "Your leader will be very cross with you if you kill me.... I'm a genius!" Then there's the scene toward the story's climax, where the defeated Ice Lord Slaar orders a Warrior to destroy the Doctor. Troughton calmly closes his eyes, his character peacefully preparing for death. Until he suddenly spots Jamie in harm's way and leaps across a table to spoil the Warrior's aim. It's nicely underplayed, which is classic Troughton.
Wendy Padbury, who has Zoe's slyly innocent know-it-all personality mastered by now, is an absolute doll (Who can blame her for cracking up when she opens that door to let Troughton and an avalanche of foam in?). While Frazer Hines is his ever-reliable and enjoyable self as Jamie, and... I promised myself I would never, ever use this word in a review but somehow it seems embarrassingly apt... Phwoar!! How gorgeous does he look in that black shirt? And I adore his reaction to the ramshackle rocket he, the Doctor and Zoe travel to the Moon in: "This's worse than the TARDIS!" Makes me chuckle every time.
The guest cast perform nicely and believably (a few wooden extras aside). Terry Scully gets a lot of well-deserved praise for playing the collaborator Fewsham, a remarkable character whose conscience is slowly eating away at him. Harry Towb manages to steal every scene he's in as Osgood... even though he's killed off halfway through Episode One! Phillip Ray (Eldred), Ronald Leigh-Hunt (Radnor) and Louise Pajo (Kelly) play off each other well, too and help to drive the story along.
The Ice Warriors themselves aren't as well-used as they might have been. They do little more than lumber around, chase people, and are killed by an intense blast of heat which reduces them to a puddle (which is odd, since they're reptiles and not actually composed of ice). Overshadowing them is Alan Bennion as the Martian Warlord Slaar, who brings a sense of regality and power to his performance, heightening the tension considerably. Slaar makes a great villain because he honestly believes his plan is foolproof, and it's nice to see the little chinks in the armor that the Doctor is able to exploit in order to win the day and a few things that Slaar underestimates (such as Fewsham's self-sacrifice).
Like the preceding story, the production is a mixture of superb effectiveness and poor budgetary constraints. The sets are really quite good, but the 21st-century costumes for the male characters are too silly-looking for words. Director Michael Ferguson works wonders behind the camera, with the use of high and low angles to create some clever shots. There are a few lapses in judgment; particularly the sequence in which an Ice Warrior arrives at the T-Mat Control Center on Earth and proceeds to do a rather odd 'dance' as if its unsure whether to start killing people or lurch out of the room. However, the sublime location filming of the creature marching toward the Weather Control Bureau more than makes up for it. Also of note is Dudley Simpson's impressive incidental score for the story, giving the Ice Warriors a distinctive and highly memorable musical theme.
Over the years some have argued that it's unlikely Earth would be so reliant on T-Mat that they'd abandon spaceflight completely. Actually I don't find it too difficult to believe. After all on one level the story works as a warning against complacency, and it's not too far fetched to suppose that the government would put 'all its eggs in one basket' (to quote the Doctor). Also, since no-one can reach the Moonbase except via transmission from the Earth Control Center - the only way the T-Mat system could be taken over would be travel to the Moon by spacecraft, which, as we see, is all but impossible. Except for unforeseen alien invaders of course!
So this aspect of the story is pretty well thought out, at least I think so. Unfortunately, the logic stumbles and falls when Slaar decides to use T-Mat to 'suspend the Doctor in space, between the Moon and Earth'. Why not just shoot the Doctor with the sonic gun grafted onto his wrist?! This is nothing more than outrageous padding, since it involves Fewsham meddling with the T-Mat setup, presumably overriding all kinds of fail-safes despite his oft-stated lack of expertise, and then having to put it all right again in order for Slaar to continue with his plan to distribute Martian seed pods all across the Earth. Straining credulity further is the Doctor's rescue, which is very confusing, plus it relies on the notion that neither Slaar nor Fewsham were actually looking at the cubicle when the Doctor was 'dispatched'!
But the story's biggest plot hole lies in its use of water to destroy the Martian fungus. The Ice Warriors are aware of this problem with their bio-weapon and take appropriate action against a large-scale artificial rainstorm by sabotaging the Weather Control Bureau. But then there's the massive abundance of water that covers most of the Earth and could be used to combat the seeds. Wouldn't it have been smarter to breed a fungus that wasn't vulnerable to H2O in the first place?
It's also more than a little convenient that the Martian fleet have 'insufficient fuel for maneuver' (the reason for which is never learned) - mainly because the Doctor couldn't have foreseen this lucky coincidence. This is a shame, since it could have easily been explained that the Ice Warriors left their dying world in a hurry, and thus suggest that they simply didn't have enough time to perfect the seed pods.
Despite these downsides, "The Seeds of Death" boasts more good qualities than bad ones. It's a strong example of what the Patrick Troughton years were all about - enjoyable Doctor Who from beginning to end.
3 ½ / 5 stars
I have such fond memories of "The Seeds of Death". It was my first ever Patrick Troughton story - thanks to it being the first Second Doctor adventure ever released on VHS - and, like "The Krotons" before it, I think it's another underrated jewel in Season Six's crown. After their impressive introductory tale, the Ice Warriors were well deserving of a comeback, and here the Martian invaders return in another attempt to conquer the Earth. Their plan to use seed pods to destroy human life via humanity's latest technological marvel - T-Mat - is so simple and, yet, so devious.
In many ways "The Seeds of Death" can be considered a direct sequel to "The Ice Warriors", with T-Mat mirroring the Ionizer and its controlling computer from that earlier story. Even the supporting characters are similar - Julian Radnor (Leader Clent), Daniel Eldred (Scientist Penley), Gia Kelly (Miss Garrett). However, there are a number of added elements - including the base on the Moon and the Earth weather control station (both highly reminiscent of Season Four's "The Moonbase"), the two new classes of Ice Warrior (Warlord and Grand Marshal), and the alien fungus that threatens to sap Earth of its oxygen - to keep things different and interesting.
Patrick Troughton gives another stellar turn as the Doctor. Here he's bristling with suppressed fury that gives his clown-like performance a real edge. One of my favorite moments is his attempt to escape the Ice Warriors in the Moonbase. He slips and slides, turns and twists, and does priceless comic double-takes at every distorted mirror reflection. Finally, when the Ice Warriors have him cornered... he talks his way out of it: "Your leader will be very cross with you if you kill me.... I'm a genius!" Then there's the scene toward the story's climax, where the defeated Ice Lord Slaar orders a Warrior to destroy the Doctor. Troughton calmly closes his eyes, his character peacefully preparing for death. Until he suddenly spots Jamie in harm's way and leaps across a table to spoil the Warrior's aim. It's nicely underplayed, which is classic Troughton.
Wendy Padbury, who has Zoe's slyly innocent know-it-all personality mastered by now, is an absolute doll (Who can blame her for cracking up when she opens that door to let Troughton and an avalanche of foam in?). While Frazer Hines is his ever-reliable and enjoyable self as Jamie, and... I promised myself I would never, ever use this word in a review but somehow it seems embarrassingly apt... Phwoar!! How gorgeous does he look in that black shirt? And I adore his reaction to the ramshackle rocket he, the Doctor and Zoe travel to the Moon in: "This's worse than the TARDIS!" Makes me chuckle every time.
The guest cast perform nicely and believably (a few wooden extras aside). Terry Scully gets a lot of well-deserved praise for playing the collaborator Fewsham, a remarkable character whose conscience is slowly eating away at him. Harry Towb manages to steal every scene he's in as Osgood... even though he's killed off halfway through Episode One! Phillip Ray (Eldred), Ronald Leigh-Hunt (Radnor) and Louise Pajo (Kelly) play off each other well, too and help to drive the story along.
The Ice Warriors themselves aren't as well-used as they might have been. They do little more than lumber around, chase people, and are killed by an intense blast of heat which reduces them to a puddle (which is odd, since they're reptiles and not actually composed of ice). Overshadowing them is Alan Bennion as the Martian Warlord Slaar, who brings a sense of regality and power to his performance, heightening the tension considerably. Slaar makes a great villain because he honestly believes his plan is foolproof, and it's nice to see the little chinks in the armor that the Doctor is able to exploit in order to win the day and a few things that Slaar underestimates (such as Fewsham's self-sacrifice).
Like the preceding story, the production is a mixture of superb effectiveness and poor budgetary constraints. The sets are really quite good, but the 21st-century costumes for the male characters are too silly-looking for words. Director Michael Ferguson works wonders behind the camera, with the use of high and low angles to create some clever shots. There are a few lapses in judgment; particularly the sequence in which an Ice Warrior arrives at the T-Mat Control Center on Earth and proceeds to do a rather odd 'dance' as if its unsure whether to start killing people or lurch out of the room. However, the sublime location filming of the creature marching toward the Weather Control Bureau more than makes up for it. Also of note is Dudley Simpson's impressive incidental score for the story, giving the Ice Warriors a distinctive and highly memorable musical theme.
Over the years some have argued that it's unlikely Earth would be so reliant on T-Mat that they'd abandon spaceflight completely. Actually I don't find it too difficult to believe. After all on one level the story works as a warning against complacency, and it's not too far fetched to suppose that the government would put 'all its eggs in one basket' (to quote the Doctor). Also, since no-one can reach the Moonbase except via transmission from the Earth Control Center - the only way the T-Mat system could be taken over would be travel to the Moon by spacecraft, which, as we see, is all but impossible. Except for unforeseen alien invaders of course!
So this aspect of the story is pretty well thought out, at least I think so. Unfortunately, the logic stumbles and falls when Slaar decides to use T-Mat to 'suspend the Doctor in space, between the Moon and Earth'. Why not just shoot the Doctor with the sonic gun grafted onto his wrist?! This is nothing more than outrageous padding, since it involves Fewsham meddling with the T-Mat setup, presumably overriding all kinds of fail-safes despite his oft-stated lack of expertise, and then having to put it all right again in order for Slaar to continue with his plan to distribute Martian seed pods all across the Earth. Straining credulity further is the Doctor's rescue, which is very confusing, plus it relies on the notion that neither Slaar nor Fewsham were actually looking at the cubicle when the Doctor was 'dispatched'!
But the story's biggest plot hole lies in its use of water to destroy the Martian fungus. The Ice Warriors are aware of this problem with their bio-weapon and take appropriate action against a large-scale artificial rainstorm by sabotaging the Weather Control Bureau. But then there's the massive abundance of water that covers most of the Earth and could be used to combat the seeds. Wouldn't it have been smarter to breed a fungus that wasn't vulnerable to H2O in the first place?
It's also more than a little convenient that the Martian fleet have 'insufficient fuel for maneuver' (the reason for which is never learned) - mainly because the Doctor couldn't have foreseen this lucky coincidence. This is a shame, since it could have easily been explained that the Ice Warriors left their dying world in a hurry, and thus suggest that they simply didn't have enough time to perfect the seed pods.
Despite these downsides, "The Seeds of Death" boasts more good qualities than bad ones. It's a strong example of what the Patrick Troughton years were all about - enjoyable Doctor Who from beginning to end.
3 ½ / 5 stars