Nightmare of Eden
Previous: The Creature From the Pit
Nightmare of Eden
Ah, hello Ship Model Floating Through Space With Surprisingly Cool Music!
This seems to be a transport ship for the Anti-Ultraviolet Jogger's Club. What else could explain the sunglasses and reflective jumpsuits?
Also, that might be the most absurdly colorful control panel ever.
Suddenly, DANGER! (complete with a very unconvincing "OH NO!")
Seriously, is that blond guy on drugs or something? Because he hasn't been acting like a normal person at all yet.
Four! ROMANA! It's been a while! I've missed you.
And alternatively-voiced K-9! Who just kind of randomly appeared out of nowhere!
"I don't think we should interfe..."
"INTERFERE? Of COURSE we should interfere!"
Trying to identify Romana's outfit in this story. It looks like another schoolgirl uniform, but from a relatively obscure country.
And of course the two arguing pilots take no notice of the 2 Time Lords and tin dog suddenly in their midst and WHERE DID ROMANA'S ARMS GO?
"Well, it's worked before, you know."
"...I preferred it when it seemed impossible."
You would, Doctor. You would.
I think the captain just pulled the future equivalent of Googling a background check.
Okay blond guy, first you giggle at ship collisions now you're leaning sultrily against the walls at Four, maybe you need to sober up a bit.
Huh. Maybe I wasn't too far off about the drugs.
Huh. Maybe I was completely spot-on about the drugs.
Also, kudos to you Four for letting K-9 scan them before you put them in your mouth.
Aaaaand now we turn to a pair of zoologists completely out of nowhere. If they wind up being important, why weren't they introduced earlier?
Good ol' Romana, explaining in great sciencey detail how you're Doing It Wrong.
"I told you, I'm from Galactic!"
"Galactic went out of business twenty years ago."
"I wondered why I hadn't been paid..."
Tryst confuses me a bit. I can't place his accent and what was his face even doing just now? Also, HIS NAME.
Tryst [noun]: A private, romantic rendezvous between lovers.
Ah, and here we have our first glimpse of the planet Eden. Looks like a nice jungle world.
Also, is it just me, or is Lalla Ward being unusually deadpan/uninterested in this serial?
Like, I don't think her face has changed in this entire scene. Not even when she saw the Resident Creeper Man.
So now I'm starting to wonder if that Creeper Man was actually the lost crew member they were talking about.
Sorry Tom, but not quite convinced by your reaction to that laser blast.
Wait...a female Classic companion wearing...REASONABLY SENSIBLE SHOES? Can such a mythical creature exist? #apparently #andhernameisromana
FYI, I know I've bitched about this before, but "sensible shoes" in this context basically means anything other than heels.
"Someone aboard this ship is smuggling drugs." Yup. Kid's show.
Ouch, I think I can already see the creases in the wall where K-9's laser cutter is going to pierce it. #shoddysets
Yup, I was right. Also, Romana, why didn't you move away from that Mysterious Glowy Thing before it bit you on the neck?
And suddenly A MANDREL!!
Got random monsters jumping out of your walls? Just sic the family dog on it.
"It's totally inexplicable!"
"Nothing's inexplicable!"
"Then explain it!"
"......it's inexplicable."
I hope this isn't going to be another case of Romana Gets Bitten By Something And Goes Primal.
"I'm the Doctor! I keep telling you that!"
"Yes, but who do you work for?"
"Work FOR? I don't work FOR anybody! I'm just having fun."
So I just realized something else about Romana's dress. If I didn't know better, I'd almost say it was hiding a pregnancy.
I know she wasn't, but that's just the functional impression that the design gives.
Actually, my mom was saying the same thing about Sarah Jane in The Five Doctors until she took her poncho off.
Not liking the look of whatever just got slipped into Romana's drink.
Or maybe Tryst is getting that drink. So I wonder who that weird powder is really meant for...
WAIT. I messed up. That's not Tryst, that's the captain.
A "dimensional osmosis damper?" Holy crap, technobabble that I can actually decipher. And I can see why Four is getting distressed.
Ahhhh, I see. The captain got slipped some of the drugs and now he's going loopy.
Oh hey, there's one of the UV Joggers.
Are they just showing Tom going down the same stairs over and over again?
Hang on, I think that was the drugged up guy who was supposed to be dead. He certainly chose a great place to hide.
Okay, now THAT was almost definitely Tom going through the same room over and over again.
Well Four, I certainly hope you can breathe in whatever that mysteriously colored gas is.
The captain is getting a little too close to Tryst's face, isn't he?
Meanwhile, Four appears to be chasing the Silver Jogger through space that may or may not exist.
Surprise buttsex? Oh wait, where did that Mandrel come from?
Oh come on, Romana, don't back up against the wall, run back down the corridor!
I can tell that this scene was filmed on one of Tom and Lalla's good days. Unless they hadn't reached the point of having bad days yet.
UNEXPECTED PLOT EXPOSITION DUMP
And with that long-shot, it looks like those might've been Tryst's boots by Romana's unconscious head at the beginning of the episode.
Wow. The cops actually fell for the old hey-look-over-there ploy. Really? ...Really?
Hand-holding, and running RIGHT INTO THE PROJECTION WORLD. #actuallyreallyawesome
"Well, how do you like Eden?"
"I don't."
You know guys, I think what you're doing now is like walking into a lion's cage and forgetting to shut the door behind you.
And thank you Romana for actually pointing that out.
Oh. Oh god. When did this turn into tentacle porn?
No seriously, that plant looks even more suggestive of female anatomy than the Vervoids.
And then Four bites into it, it spurts liquid everywhere, and then it settles down. Yup, kid's show.
AND THEN FOUR COMMENTS ON IT "NOT TASTING BAD." WHAT AM I WATCHING.
So I was trying to take a screencap of Four and Romana being all adorable and cuddly...
saklfdhaklfdhsklf Tom. Lalla. How so adorable together.
Wait, so the guy with the scar from before wasn't the dead navigator, it was the missing guy from Tryst's expedition? That explains a lot.
Ooo yay, more plot exposition. Just what the Doctor ordered.
I think that's the first time I've ever seen K-9 audibly sniff somebody.
Wait, how are those two on the floor already? The Mandrels didn't really do anything except, well, knock into them repeatedly.
And now we get to see creepy footage of the captain watching the passengers die while the cop majorly underreacts.
Aww, it's okay Four, the Mandrel just wants hugs. Killer deadly hugs.
"We haven't got time for pussy-footing around!" ...what? Oh. But still.
Oh Four, you look so happy at the prospect of going up against an army of Mandrels armed with nothing but your brain.
So I wonder how many actors they actually have playing Mandrels. I don't think we've seen more than two onscreen at a time so far.
Umm, Four, you might want to put down your science for a second and notice the "quite dead" Mandrel standing up and preparing to attack you.
Jeez, why does everybody have such a hard time saying "NO!" convincingly in this serial?
Also DID THAT MANDREL JUST MELT INTO A PILE OF RUBBLE?
Actually, wait, it melted into a pile of drugs. ......THE MANDRELS ARE THE DRUGS. I honestly had NO idea that that was going to happen. Wow.
Four wasn't kidding about those cops being bureaucrats. The short one looks WAY too happy about the idea of the deaths leading to promotion.
Oh god. The captain wants "something for the feeling" and he's offering Romana money. I know he means drugs, but my mind went the other way.
"GIVE IT TO ME!" BAD TOUCH BAD TOUCH. Oh, thank you, officer, just in time. Oh wait...
Well everything's in place and the ships are separating AND APPARENTLY SO IS FOUR.
Well, the two ships are separated at last. Now we just have drugs and Mandrels to deal with. Actually, now that we know they're the same...
Ah yes, that's exactly how you get a reaction from another character: be very aggressive in the direction of the camera.
At least now we know where Four is. Except we technically don't yet.
"It would help if you told me what happened." Is it just me, or is most of this serial's backstory told through infodump scenes?
I know this is technically failing the Bechdel Test because they're talking about guys but I still love watching Romana talk to other women.
And Four conveniently wakes up next to what appears to be a big ray gun. I wonder where this is going.
So he's onboard the other ship after all. And I think I just figured out what he just figured out. Let's see if I'm right...
Wow. There's a LOT of bystanders wearing silver jumpsuits in this story, aren't there?
So I wonder if Four just got knocked out again or if he's just pretending to sleep for motionlessness reasons. But why close his eyes?
Yeah, Tryst is definitely in on something here.
Huh. I guess Four was unconscious in the shuttle after all. But now he's back! And GUARDS DO NOT MESS WITH K-9.
And the identities of the smugglers and their methods are finally revealed. Apparently, I was actually right!
"You're arresting the wrong man, you know, Fisk." Geez, that guy is WAAAAAY too eager to get that promotion.
Oh crap. I hope Della makes it through to see Stott again. On the other hand, Romana's arms aren't such a bad place to die.
Okay, sounds like she'll be fine after all. *whew*
They've even got the Mandrels under control now. Anyone else curious as to why only K-9's laser's had a one-hit-stun shot? #becausehesk9
Ah, here we go: five Mandrels onscreen at once. This might answer my earlier question.
Awwww, they're all just big puppies! They're even following Four's dog whistle!
"Oh gosh, oh Lord, oh Doctor..." Okay, there's NO way that those lines WEREN'T dubbed in.
"Oh, my fingers, my arms, my legs, ah, my everything! Ooohhhh..." So THAT'S where that line came from.
Also, I don't know if Tom was trying to sound like he was faking it but...seriously what was UP with that delivery?
Aw, Four's poor shredded coat. ...wait...unless...is he suddenly wearing it inside out for some reason?
Oh wait, he isn't. But his lapels remained surprisingly intact.
Need more power to your electric mini-zoo? Just hook jumper cables up to your robot dog.
And here we have another one of those unfortunate climaxes driven by technobabble.
Oh. That actually makes sense. And is quite clever!
"Tell them I did it only for the sake of funding my research! You understand all this, you are a scientist!"
"Go away."
"What?"
"Go away."
Guys, if you could hear Tom's voice and see his face just now...oh wow, that was a specially eerie kind of menace.
"I'm relieved the nightmare's over."
"The nightmare's here."
Ah. I was wondering if we were going to get a semi-title drop eventually.
Aaaaaand the end, complete with a joke about K-9 being at home in an electric zoo. Huh, that serial actually wasn't too bad.
Next: The Horns of Nimon