Doctor Who 13.01 Terror of the Zygons
DOCTOR: "Well, it takes all sorts to make a galaxy."
Overview
As a favoured story from a favoured era of the show, I really wish this one was out on DVD already. This is a classic Doctor Who adventure, action-packed from beginning to end, blending human legend with an alien invasion story, a UNIT investigation thrown in for good measure, and the flamboyant Fourth Doctor himself striding nonchalantly through the middle of it all in his own inimitable style.
This is the season 13 premiere, and it is a story about lasts. This is the last case the Doctor ever works as an official affiliate of UNIT in the classic show; although we do run into UNIT again after this, just once or twice, we don't ever see the Doctor working a case as part of their team in this way again. This is the last case we ever see Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart work as head of UNIT, as well, sad to say. And it is also Harry Sullivan's last adventure as a companion of the Doctor, much to my regret because I love Harry. This adventure is positioned in the show as a story about cutting ties with the past and moving forward. Sarah Jane chooses to move forward with the Doctor at the end of the story, leaving her life on Earth behind, while Harry chooses to move forward with his own life, leaving his Tardis interlude behind.
Observations
Random thoughts while watching:
Okay, so this story wins me over the moment the Tardis trio appear on-screen, tramping their way across the supposedly Scottish countryside because the Doctor has landed slightly off-target. The Doctor, we immediately see, has donned a tartan scarf and Tam o'Shanter in honour of the trip to Scotland…but is using his companions as a kind of mobile hat stand so as not to leave his customary apparel behind. It's such a cute detail, not commented on on-screen at all. It simply is, thrown in for us to grin at: Sarah wearing the Doctor's usual floppy wide-brimmed hat while his trademark outsize scarf is looped around Harry's neck, looking even more outsize on Harry than it does on the Doctor, since although tall Harry isn't as tall as the Doctor and is a slighter build. All three appear to be in cheerful high spirits and look like they are having fun, enjoying each other's company as they wander through the countryside and no doubt relishing not being in any kind of danger, for the time being at least. This kind of comfortable, affectionate character dynamic is always a good start to any story, so I am happy to see it.
Sarah has got changed again since they took off from Nerva Beacon at the end of the last story, Revenge of the Cybermen, but Harry is still stuck in the same outfit he's been wearing ever since they left Earth way back in the season 12 premiere, Robot. If Sarah is allowed to change her clothes from adventure to adventure, why isn't Harry?
I rather like the way a couple of nifty little scene cuts are employed to give the impression that our intrepid trio have had rather a long walk across the moors before they finally find a road. Nicely done, director. I love that they just flag down the first car they see to hitch a ride into the village, where UNIT have set up shop for their latest investigation, which is the reason they have summoned the Doctor back to Earth, using the 'space time telegraph system' he apparently left with them for just that purpose.
I am not going to comment on the many Scottish stereotypes thrown into the story in odd places, just to remind us that we're in Scotland.
At the inn where UNIT has set up its base of operations, I am rather intrigued to hear the Brigadier say that the Doctor 'ought to have materialised by now' in front of civilians. Of course, we know he means 'materialised' quite literally, but I suppose it sounds innocuous enough to the uninitiated.
At the end of Robot, the Doctor pretty much tricked Harry into entering the Tardis. It was a joke that wasn't intended to go quite as far as it did. Now, in contrast to Sarah, who is a freelance journalist and her own boss, Harry is a naval officer attached to UNIT as their medical officer and therefore very much not a free agent, so that when he left Earth with the Doctor - completely inadvertently on his part, he didn't knowingly agree to be taken off for a tour of the universe - he was technically going AWOL and could, in theory, face charges upon his return. Lucky for him, then, that he works for Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who knows the Doctor only too well and regards staff members disappearing in the Tardis as no more than an occupational hazard! Several protracted adventures through time and space later, from Harry's point of view, we aren't told how much time has passed on Earth, but it's got to be weeks if not months, yet the Brigadier doesn't so much as bat an eyelid when his missing medical officer turns up with the Doctor, and Harry is allowed to just slide back into the swing of things with UNIT as if he's never been away.
I love the way the Doctor and Sarah both poke fun at the Brigadier's kilt, donned in honour of the Scottish portion of his ancestry. The Brigadier is the perfect straight man for that kind of joke - he is so very English, Scots ancestry or no!
I rather enjoy the furious debate the Doctor and the Brigadier have over whether or not this current investigation is enough of an emergency to be worth the Doctor's while returning to Earth to help with. Several oil rigs have been destroyed in mysterious circumstances, but the Doctor does not believe this is remotely worthy of his time and attention. His bored attitude as the Brigadier explains the situation is very reminiscent of Three, in fact, who was disdainful of UNIT's investigations more often than not, even when they turned out to be full blown alien invasions. The Brigadier doesn't back down, however. His spidey-sense is tingling like mad; he knows that there is more going on here than meets the eye - and he is right. He has to point out the catastrophic loss of life before the Doctor deigns to agree that maybe something should be done to find out what's going on before any more lives are lost. It's almost like old times: the Third Doctor had pretty much this exact debate with the Brigadier countless times. This is the last time, though, as this is the one and only time the Brigadier ever uses that psionic beam the Doctor gave him; he never calls the Doctor back ever again after this, maybe because there are no more crises worthy of it, but maybe more probably because he knows, deep down, that the Doctor's always begrudged time with UNIT is at an end now.
I really like the way we can see Sarah, Harry and Benton having a quiet little chat among themselves in the background of the Doctor's conversation with the Brigadier. They are probably talking about the case, but I like to imagine maybe Sarah and Harry are telling Benton something of their adventures with the Doctor since the last time he saw them!
Visiting Mr Huckle, the fake American head of the oil company whose rigs have been destroyed, Harry is handed a medical report into the workers killed on the rigs, so presumably he was introduced to Huckle as UNIT's medical officer, which means he really has just picked up the reins of that role as if he never left. Harry makes a few observations about the autopsy reports and then decides to take a look at the bodies for himself, sounding very professional, which pleases me as I like it when Harry is allowed to play to his strengths, as a doctor and medical officer. It is noteworthy that he is automatically deferring to the Brigadier once more, as his senior officer, rather than to the Doctor, as he would have on their travels - already sliding out of companion mode and back into everyday life mode.
Sarah also gets to put her professional skills to good use in this story, doing her investigative journalist thing interviewing villagers, in hopes of learning something of value to the investigation. She doesn't seem to get very far, though - mostly all we see of her interviews is a conversation with innkeeper McRanald, who claims to have second sight and tells her a few local legends about disappearances on the nearby moors, while the deeply sceptical Sarah pretty much mocks him openly, which I've got to say is rather ruder than I would normally expect her to be. And given what we later learn about the monster in Loch Ness, there is probably at least a degree of truth in those tall tales McRanald tells her!
Throughout episode one, we only catch glimpses of the eponymous Zygons - an eye here, a hand on a control there - just enough to know that the Brigadier's spidey-sense was right. There are aliens in the vicinity…and they have got bugs all over the village, keeping a close watch on goings on.
I've got to say, the director did a really lovely job with the scene where a single survivor of one of the oil rigs is washed up on the shore. There is something beautifully eerie about the sequence where the man slowly staggers out of the sea, silhouetted by the light shining off the water behind him, and the rather haunting musical score is just perfect.
Harry is driving past just in time to see the man collapse, so, being Harry, he immediately leaps out of his UNIT land rover and sprints across the dunes to tend to him…only for the man to be shot dead in his arms by a sniper! The director did a good job with the set-up for this scene, too, the way he pulls back to show the sniper's perspective as he takes careful aim. This is quite a good little sequence for actor Ian Marter as Harry leaps to his feet in shock and alarm, scanning the surrounding dunes for any sign of the sniper - there is absolutely no cover for him, nowhere to hide, and he knows it. A moment later, a second shot rings out and Harry tumbles over backward and lies still, with a close-up showing us blood smeared across his face. This is a 1975 episode of Doctor Who and a companion just got shot in the head, with actual blood and everything! Shocking stuff! I am very impressed.
I am even more impressed that the wound remains more or less visible, just above Harry's left eye, for the remainder of the story - nice effort, make-up team, by the standard of the time. The bullet grazed his skull, we are told, which means he is very lucky, really, that the sniper's aim was ever so slightly off, since he was clearly shooting to kill. There is something terribly ironic about the fact that Harry has been through all these hair-raising adventures through time and space with the Doctor and survived them all more or less unscathed, and then the moment he's back on Earth doing his day job with UNIT, he gets shot.
I rather like the little scene between the Doctor and Sarah back at the inn, wherein Sarah is still being flippant about the innkeeper's claim to have second sight, expecting the Doctor to share the joke, but instead he thoughtfully observes that the bagpipe music the innkeeper keeps playing, which has been annoying everyone so much, is a lament for the dead. It's a very subtle reproof for thoughtlessly mocking the man and a reminder that there are always other perspectives. I like it. Although it would probably mean more if the Doctor didn't do much the same thing himself from time to time, including in this story!
The fake American oil rig manager, Huckle, is very loud and obnoxious, but you can't really fault him for that, since his workers keep being killed and his rigs destroyed and no one can tell him why. His anxiety is more than justified!
You know, we don't often see the Doctor dancing attendance at the sickbed of a wounded companion, he usually manages to avoid letting them get broken to that extent, so it's interesting to see him lurking at Harry's bedside at the oil company's sick bay. He seems equal parts concerned about his friend's injury (detached, because this is Four, but concerned) and anxious to find out what happened and how it relates to the case so he can get on with solving the puzzle, of which this is just another part. But Harry has a head injury and is under sedation, so isn't exactly forthcoming with any details - the impatient Doctor even tries yelling in his ear, but can't rouse him!
I really enjoy seeing the Doctor playing detective, making a plaster of Paris cast of the unusual marks found on some of the oil rig wreckage to demonstrate to all sceptics that they were made by a set of giant teeth! He is so very clever and observant, but also so very offbeat with his lines of enquiry, so that those around him often struggle to follow his leaps of logic. Somewhere out there in the North Sea is a very large, very powerful creature and its controllers don't want anyone to know that it exists, he surmises, which is why the oil rig survivor was killed - and also why Harry was shot, in case the man had told him anything incriminating.
While the Doctor is busily investigating, Sarah volunteers to sit with the comatose Harry in sick bay, which is both rather sweet and a bit of a role reversal for those two - several times during their adventures together we've seen Harry doctoring Sarah after some misadventure or other, now it's her turn to fuss over him! I always enjoy a spot of role reversal.
This was Ian Marter's last adventure as a series regular and he doesn't have a huge role in it, but he does have a few really good scenes that demonstrate how strong and subtle an actor he could be when given decent material to get his teeth into. He is very good in the scene where Harry regains consciousness, convincingly muzzy and confused and he really looks as if it hurts to open his eyes. Nicely played.
Our first good look at a Zygon makes for a decent cliffhanger episode ending, as the creepy nurse at the sick bay turns out to be an alien in disguise. It's always so inconvenient when aliens are able to take on human form and sneak around covertly, makes investigating (and evading) them that much harder!
When Harry found the oil rig survivor, he was shot in the head to prevent him telling anyone what the man had said to him. So far so reasonable, from a Zygon point of view, so it really isn't clear why they then change their strategy completely when he survives the assassination attempt. The Zygon disguised as a nurse was ideally positioned to quietly bump him off before he had a chance to talk to anyone, but instead she waits for him to wake up and then abducts him while Sarah is out of the room, for no immediately apparent reason.
The Zygon locks Sarah in a decompression chamber to get her out of the way, although there is again no readily apparent reason why, other than to generate a bit of drama, since I'm sure there are easier ways of killing a witness and it probably could have snuck Harry out of the building without Sarah noticing anyway. Then when the Doctor finds her there, he ends up locked in as well, with the air pressure plummeting, since the Zygons have noticed that he is clever enough to be a real threat to them. It isn't the first time these two have almost suffocated together - and probably won't be the last! What's interesting about this scene is that the Doctor, unable to find any way of getting them out of the room in time, puts first Sarah and then himself into such a deep trance that they don't even need to breathe - and the direction of that scene is rather lovely, hats off to Douglas Camfield once again. 'A trick I picked up from a Tibetan monk,' the Doctor claims. He attempts something similar again a few years later in Four to Doomsday, although with rather more fuss and slightly less success.
I love that Benton gets to find the Doctor and Sarah in the decompression chamber and save both of their lives. I like it when Benton is allowed to be capable and efficient and make positive contributions.
It amuses me that the Brigadier, like the Doctor, likes to have someone around to think out loud at. Any subordinate will do, if he doesn't have a trusted friend or peer at hand, although he prefers it if he gets at least a bit of an intelligent response back.
It all gets a bit weird and mysterious when the Zygons gas an entire village full of people, just so that no one will notice when their pet monster moves between the sea and a nearby loch. The Brigadier's outraged reaction, later, to the suggestion that he's been sleeping on the job is priceless. I love the way the Doctor and Sarah grin at each other over this reaction, sharing the joke. They have such a fabulous relationship, those two.
With the Brigadier temporarily indisposed, it amuses me to see the Doctor snapping brisk orders at Benton, who scurries to comply - the Doctor wouldn't dream of usurping the Brigadier's authority ordinarily, but he'll happily insert himself at the top of the chain of command if the Brig is unavailable, and the UNIT underlings accept his authority completely.
Harry has been taken to the Zygon spaceship, which is apparently sitting at the bottom of Loch Ness. He was barely conscious when he was snatched from his hospital bed and remains visibly woozy still - he's definitely concussed - but he handles the alien abduction fairly well in the circumstances. He sounds rather weak and wan and afraid, but stands his ground nonetheless and argues against their grand threats while asking all the obvious but necessary questions to keep them talking, learning as much as he can about them. They are obligingly communicative, dropping stacks of exposition on him, and leave him lurking in a corner of their control room for absolutely ages, which means he is privy to a number of conversations that might have been better held in private - our first clue that these creatures really aren't as well organised or efficient as they think they are.
It is so very wonderfully Doctor Who to take a human legend like the Loch Ness monster and have it turn out to be an alien creature hiding out in the loch!
I really enjoy watching the Doctor in detective mode, assembling clues and piecing them together to solve a mystery, his uniquely broad perspective always giving him an advantage over mere human investigators where this kind of alien puzzle is concerned.
I love how organic the design of the Zygons and their spacecraft are. Their whispery, hissing voices are also nifty touch, reinforcing the concept of them as strange, amphibious aliens. The set design for their ship is fantastic and still holds up really well today. This is an alien race that could easily be revisited by the modern show, as they'd fit right in with today's production style.
The design of the Zygon's pet monster, the Skarasen, isn't so good, though. Downright lousy, in fact. The FX team tried hard to realise the concept of it with stop-motion animation, but it just doesn't work. Still, we can't have everything, and the production standard of this story is otherwise pretty high, given the miniscule budget they were working with.
Left alone at the inn for a while, Sarah finds a typewriter and starts typing up her notes about the case as a possible story for publication, which is rather interesting. Although this latest trip away from Earth lasted rather longer than anticipated, at this point the Doctor hasn't made a permanent break with this place and time; since she met him he has always been based out of UNIT and after their trips off-world together he has always returned to that base, for a longer or shorter period. Travelling with the Doctor is still an occasional interlude for her, then, rather than a regular and permanent arrangement, and in between those trips she still has to earn a living. So, just as Harry got right back on with his everyday job as soon as he was back on terra firma, because this is real life and that trip in the Tardis was merely an unexpected hiatus from it, Sarah is attempting to do much the same thing here.
Because the exposition has to be got across to the audience somehow, the aliens continue to over-share, boasting about their technology to Harry in some detail: they can assume human form, they explain, but have to have an original to copy. They already have several key individuals from the village, including local laird the Duke of Forgill and that creepy nurse from sick bay. The special effect for the Zygons as they change form is pretty good, for 1975 - although I'm not sure what Harry's concussed brain makes of it!
I'm also not sure why the Zygons think it would be a good idea to send one of their number into the village disguised as Harry to retrieve a piece of technology that was found among oil rig wreckage, a signalling device used to control the Skarasen. Their other human facsimiles have worked well because they were discreet, no one knew they'd been swapped, whereas although no one seems overly concerned about Harry's disappearance from his hospital bed, given how much else is going on, it's common knowledge that it happened, so when he turns up again right as rain it is inevitably going to cause comment, which doesn't make it the stealthiest disguise ever! The Zygon doesn't even manage a particularly good Harry impression, at that, so that although Sarah's first reaction upon seeing him is delight, it is quickly followed by suspicion because it is clear that something isn't quite right. Everything about Not-Harry is just different enough for the fakeness to be apparent, from body language to intonation - nicely played by Ian Marter. Even knowing that he is a fake, mind, it is still rather shocking to see him shove Sarah aside to make his escape; the real Harry Sullivan would never, ever raise a hand to a woman. Still, Not-Harry isn't very fast, as it turns out. Sarah has time to run in the opposite direction to find a few UNIT soldiers loitering nearby and yell orders at them, and then still manages to catch up with him! Hiding out in a handy nearby barn, he attacks her with a pitchfork, and this is a really, really effective scene, which Marter makes absolutely terrifying, aided and abetted by excellent direction, lighting and musical score. Whoever would have guessed that sweet, bumbling Harry could be so menacing?
When Not-Harry is killed and turns back into Zygon form, the real Harry is awakened and released from the little body print alcove he'd been stuffed into on the Zygon ship, but the other Zygons are too busy panicking about the loss of one of their number to notice or care that he is now unrestrained. This kind of carelessness and underestimation of their enemy is a big part of why they ultimately fail - that and the fact that their overall plan is, frankly, stupid, of course.
Since their one attempt at stealth hasn't worked, the Zygons decide a full-blown all-out assault is now their best option for retrieving the control device, so they activate it and send the Skarasen off after it - in broad daylight, this enormous creature that they were so keen no one should know exist! Yeah, strategic thinking really isn't their forte. The Doctor gets a really good action sequence as he grabs the controller and takes off with it, to draw the monster away from populated areas while UNIT try to triangulate the source of the signal. Unfortunately for the Doctor, first his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and then the controller fuses itself to his hand, with the Skarasen practically on top of him - it makes for a good cliffhanger episode end!
It's just as well for the Doctor, then, that the Zygons are so unthreatened by Harry that they haven't bothered restraining him again after the duplication failure, but rather have left him free to roam around their ship at will, so that he wanders back into the control room at the crucial moment, sees what they are doing, and throws himself at the console, pressing every button he can reach. They knock him out again pretty quickly, which can't be good for his concussion, but he's already done enough to save the Doctor from the Skarasen. It isn't the first time Harry has saved the Doctor's life during their acquaintance, but I don't think anyone ever finds out that he did it, this time, so he never gets credit for the save.
Visiting Forgill Castle to seek the Duke's permission to investigate Loch Ness, the source of the signal, the Doctor rather mischievously makes fun of the old laird in absentia - which is pretty much exactly the kind of thing he was a bit disapproving of Sarah doing earlier!
I am highly entertained by the four-way conversation in which the Doctor, the Brigadier and Sarah attempt to convince the sceptical Duke that there really is a monster in Loch Ness. Even knowing that the Duke is a Zygon duplicate deliberately playing dumb to mislead them doesn't make it any less funny!
This is a pretty good story for Benton, on the whole. I mean, his character remains as much of a blank slate as ever - we know next to nothing about him as a person, not even his first name, even after all these years - but as an experienced UNIT soldier, he gets a good run-out in this story, lots of solid action for him as he dashes around rallying his troops and hunting for bugs and whatnot.
Benton and his troops manage to corner and wound one of the Zygons, which hastily resumes its human disguise - the creepy nurse - in order to evade them. What is really striking about this scene is that not only are we told that the Zygon nurse has been shot, but we are shown that she has blood dripping down her arm. Not a small amount of blood, either, but a great long stream of it! For 1975 Doctor Who, this story is surprisingly gritty where the injury realism is concerned.
I like this story a lot, but it isn't perfect, far from it. One of its flaws is a very common one for this era: there is no clear sense of time passing. All of this action definitely doesn't happen over the course of a single day, probably more like three or even four, but because day and night are not clearly delineated, it is impossible to tell how much time is passing.
The Doctor's decision to leave Sarah alone at Forgill Castle to browse through the library in search of Nessie references seems more of a plot device than anything else. The story requires her to find the secret entrance to the Zygons' lair, so she needs to be in the right place to do so. The way the Zygon laird and his sidekick leave her alone to explore the room, knowing that the secret entrance is right there to be discovered, is similarly a plot device that doesn't entirely make sense from a character motivation perspective. It plays out smoothly enough on-screen, though, that we can just about accept it as the Doctor thinking it is a safe place to leave Sarah, the research a flimsy excuse to keep her away from the action, and the Zygons being too distracted by their wounded colleague to really think straight…not to mention underestimating her intelligence, which is consistent for their attitude toward humans.
I love watching Sarah oh-so tentatively exploring the secret passage that leads to the Zygon spaceship. She's alone and she's scared but she isn't about to turn back because this is too important and there is no one around to help her, so she'll do it on her own, however dangerous. I especially love how freaked out she is by the automatic doors with their motion detectors, opening as she approaches and then closing behind her. From the way she panics and checks they work in reverse so she can get out again, she doesn't seem to have ever encountered the like before. Automatic doors clearly weren't as commonplace in 1975 as they are today!
For all their grand plans, there are only a handful of Zygons - the crew of a small ship that had to make an emergency landing, centuries earlier, and has been stuck here in hiding ever since, they told Harry earlier - so that staff shortage could be part of the reason Sarah is able to wander around their ship for quite some time, unhindered. On her travels, she finds Harry locked away in a little side chamber, apparently having a bit of a lie down, in the absence of anything better to do - the rest seems to have done him the power of good, mind, as he is no longer wobbly from the head wound, although I'm not sure incarceration on an alien spaceship would be doctor recommended for concussion! I love that Sarah gets to be the one who rescues Harry from the Zygon ship, but even more than that I love that it happens after she was attacked by the Zygon wearing his form and that she is allowed to be affected by that experience, hesitating before unlocking the door, needing to know for sure that it really is the real Harry this time before she lets him out. Harry is apparently having one of his slow-on-the-uptake moments (we could be kind and blame the head injury, but, you know, it's Harry) because he knows that the Zygons can take human form, he's seen them do it, and he knows that they took his body print so they could duplicate him, yet he doesn't seem to grasp that this is the reason Sarah is being so cautious - and she isn't about to tell him that his double tried to kill her. More than anything else about this scene, I love that it is when he calls her 'old girl' that Sarah is finally reassured - the perfect final use of that long-running character gag. And I love the way Sarah beams her delight as she unlocks the door, and that she very nearly throws herself into his arms for a reunion hug, only to be foiled by Harry quickly spinning her around a corner instead because they've heard someone coming. And then as they make their escape, Harry goes the wrong way and Sarah has to grab his hand and yank him after her. Hee! These characters have a lovely rapport and I'm so sad that we don't see it again after this story.
Back at Forgill Castle, the Doctor and the Brigadier don't seem as surprised as they probably should be when both Sarah and Harry suddenly burst out of a secret tunnel babbling about aliens and hidden spaceships and imposters. They don't have time to be surprised, not if they want to keep up with the plot, which is zooming along at quite a rip now. I like that the Doctor makes a point of asking his companions if they are the real thing, nonchalantly but pointedly, and that Harry is just as bemused about this coming from the Doctor as he was with Sarah, which is all the confirmation the Doctor needs! I also like that the Doctor quietly tells Harry it's good to see him again, before re-focusing on the ongoing investigation - that tiny, throwaway exchange is the only meaningful interaction we get between those two characters in this whole story, which is a shame as they also have a great rapport, when they are allowed to properly interact. This story was the last opportunity to let them play off one another, as Doctor and companion, and it doesn't take it.
I would complain about the Doctor dashing off to take a look at the alien spaceship for himself, without waiting for backup or to formulate a proper plan or anything, but that kind of impulsiveness is typical of him, really. He doesn't even take the time to have a quick chat with Harry, who has spent a fair bit of time on the Zygon ship and therefore might have some useful information to exchange, which means that some of the conversations the Doctor has with the Zygons, upon promptly getting himself captured, are a bit repetitive, from the audience's point of view.
The Doctor being captured means that Harry is very briefly UNIT's chief source of information about the aliens, which is rather an unprecedented position for him to be in. Not that UNIT are especially interested in finding out who the Zygons are or what they want - the Brigadier's default is still to just blow things up until the enemy submits!
I love that when UNIT start dropping depth charges into Loch Ness, much to the alarm of the Zygons, the Doctor just shrugs that it sounds like the Brigadier. How well he knows his old friend. I'm glad they spent some quality time both butting heads and strategising together in this story, as it is the last time they ever work together like this, as part of a full-blown UNIT investigation.
I do enjoy watching Sarah, Harry and Benton standing around chatting among themselves in the background of any given scene. I like that the director shows them doing this more than once in this story - I always appreciate it when characters in the background of a scene are allowed to look busy, rather than just standing around doing nothing, it feels more natural and real. Plus it reinforces the idea of a real friendship between them…not to mention showing us that they are thinking for themselves, coming up with ideas for what to do next, in the absence of the Doctor.
Episode four is where this story really starts to falter a bit under its own weight - this is one of those rare four-part stories that I feel might actually have benefited from being stretched out over a couple more episodes. It is a very plot-heavy story, which on the one hand works well for it, since condensing that very busy plot into four episodes means it is fast-paced and action-packed enough that you don't really have time to notice the woollier, clunkier elements of the narrative structure. But on the other hand, it is almost too fast-paced, in a way, struggling to pack the story it wants to tell into the time available. It feels very rushed in places, and it might have been nice to get a bit of breathing space and expand on a few of the ideas, which an extra episode or two might have allowed - not to mention a bit more meaningful character interaction.
The Doctor always seems to come into his own when he is one-on-one with an opponent, matching wits with them and sounding them out, gauging their strength and capacity, learning what he can about their plans - often while a prisoner, yet always so casual and unconcerned about his predicament. After all, more often it is when opponents think they have him at their mercy that he is at his most dangerous, and he will deliberately put himself in that position, for that reason. He does so like for his enemies to underestimate him, which allows him to catch them unawares when he takes the upper hand. This is Tom Baker at his absolute peak, his Doctor effortlessly charismatic as he gently mocks his Zygon captors, just biding his time before taking action, utterly unafraid. As alien invaders set on world domination go, these are small fry compared to others he's seen.
I like that Sarah and Harry get to go on one last investigative foray together, searching the castle for whatever useful information they can glean. It's rather a pointless little scene, really - although I can see what they were trying to do there, having Sarah make note of what at the time seems a completely useless snippet of information that later proves relevant - but I like it anyway because it shows them working together as a unit, as the Doctor's companions, one last time. Also it amuses me that they then have to walk all the way back to the village on foot, since the Brigadier didn't leave them any means of transport when he dropped them off - although again, I'm not sure that kind of exertion would be doctor recommended for someone recovering from a nasty head injury!
The Zygons state quite clearly that before their homeworld was destroyed, a great fleet of refugee ships was assembled, which they have signalled to join them on Earth, as a suitable planet for colonisation. They expect the fleet to take several centuries to arrive, and we aren't told that the Doctor gets in touch to tell them not to bother, so the arrival of that fleet (expecting a de-populated and terraformed Earth to claim as their own) would definitely make for a good NuWho story!
The Zygons abandon Loch Ness and set down somewhere near London. They jam all radar signals, so that UNIT can't track them - but you'd think someone would notice a whacking great spaceship landing and raise the alarm, surely!
UNIT having decamped from Scotland and returned to London, Benton has rather a sweet little conversation with Sarah, trying to cheer her up with chocolate and optimism as she frets about the Doctor. I like it. I mean, I wish Harry were in this scene as well, but it works as it is: these two go back a long way. Then when the phone rings I am enormously amused by the way Sarah jumps to answer it…and then realises she really doesn't have either the authority or the security clearance to be taking high level calls at UNIT, so sheepishly hands the phone over. The phone call is for the Brigadier, from the Prime Minister - who he addresses as 'madam'. This in a story that aired four years before Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first female PM. Very forward thinking, Show!
The Doctor sabotages the Zygons' communication system to send out a signal for UNIT to trace - electrocuting himself in the process. I rather like the way the sequence here is set up, cutting back and forth between the folk at UNIT getting all hopeful and excited about being able to trace the ship at last and the Zygons declaring the Doctor dead. That's quite effective, nicely done. Of course, the Doctor opens his eyes just seconds after the Zygons have left the room, proving that they are as careless about confirming the demise of their enemies as they are lousy at strategic planning! They deserve everything they get.
I am very, very amused by the way the Doctor rescues the human prisoners from the Zygons by triggering the fire alarm - very creative thinking. He then traps the aliens on board and triggers the self-destruct, demonstrating that he will kill sentient beings in the right circumstances. It amuses me that the ship blows up just as UNIT arrive - but also frustrates me, a little. I'm not sure if it's the Doctor or the show proving that he doesn't really need them, but I just find it a bit of a shame that a story that was set up as a UNIT adventure doesn't make better use of them, in the end, especially as it is the last proper UNIT story.
Harry has very much faded into the background in this final episode of the story and I find that a shame, too, for much the same reasons - this is his final story as a companion of the Doctor, and it is a pity it doesn't make better use of him. He has even changed back into his naval uniform at this point, symbolic, in a sense, of his demotion from series regular to just another UNIT officer making up numbers.
You'd think that would be the end of the story, but no, there is still a bit more plot to wade through, as the Zygon leader Broton has escaped to try to enact their plan to achieve world domination by having the Skarasen attack a bunch of world leaders at a conference in London. Yeah, like I said, strategic thinking really isn't their strong point! The woolliness of the Zygons' plan is a real weakness of the story. They look great, as Doctor Who aliens go, but they really aren't that bright.
Aww, I love seeing the Doctor and Sarah sharing a joke as they team up to search the conference building. They are totally on the same wavelength, those two. But then a moment later I'm frustrated again as the Doctor, confronted by Broton, yells for Sarah to go and get help, but instead she just stands there gawping for ages, even though she has a clear path to the door.
Harry's very last bit of action as a companion is totally in character - hurrying to check on a red shirt UNIT soldier who was just throttled by Broton. Typically of the way Harry's time on the show has gone, though, the man is already dead so there is nothing he can do for him. At least he gets in a last little bit of banter with Sarah, and then they and the Doctor get a last scene together as a trio, watching the Skarasen swimming away down the Thames.
With all the Zygons dead and the Skarasen heading back for Loch Ness, the only home it knows, all that remains is for the Doctor and his entourage to return to Scotland to retrieve the Tardis. They apparently travel by train, and I am enormously amused at the thought of the Doctor, the Brigadier, Sarah and Harry all sitting around on a train together for the hours it would take to get from London to Loch Ness!
It's kind of a game, with the Fourth Doctor, to see who he can persuade to step into the Tardis with him whenever he leaves Earth. He did it in Robot and he does it again here. He can control the Tardis now, more or less, which his earlier incarnations never could, so he can afford for it to be a game. Where once he could never guarantee taking his travelling companions home again, which meant that taking people aboard was a serious undertaking, now he can be reasonably confident of getting them back, eventually, so sees no reason not to invite the people he likes to come along for a quick spin, however long that trip might turn out to be. The game lies in seeing just who is up for the adventure.
The Brigadier was never going to fall for that one, though, knowing the Doctor as well as he does - and Harry's decision to also say no, now that he knows what stepping into the Tardis means, while a shame, also doesn't come as a surprise, in the end; his departure was a production decision to streamline the cast, but the way it plays out is completely in character. And although the Doctor is fond of Harry, considers him a friend and would enjoy his company if he came for another trip, I don't think he ever really expected him to say yes, either. Harry doesn't have the curiosity and love of adventure that keep luring Sarah back to the Tardis time and again, and even if he did, it has always been clear that he isn't the kind of man to walk away from a commitment voluntarily, and he is committed to his career with UNIT and the Navy, not a free agent to roam wherever he pleases. He is home now, after not having chosen to leave in the first place. He's not falling for the Doctor's little game a second time.
So that's the end of Harry as a companion, after just six short adventures with the Fourth Doctor and Sarah. That handful of adventures have definitely made an impression, though: the Harry who leaves the Tardis here is a much more open-minded individual than the Harry we first met back in Robot, and is also a lot less hesitant where the unknown or unexpected are concerned. For the plot-driven '70s, that's about as much development as can be hoped for a character, really. I just wish his departure from the show weren't so abrupt and unsatisfying.
At this stage, though, no one knew that the Doctor's break with UNIT was going to become so permanent now; although the production team wanted to move away from Earth-based adventures, they hadn't made a deliberate choice at this stage to retire the UNIT set-up completely. If they had known that this was to be the last ever adventure of its kind, maybe the farewell would have been structured differently. Internal to the story, it is a very low key farewell since the Brigadier and Harry expect the Doctor to continue popping in and out of UNIT HQ, as has been his wont ever since regaining control of the Tardis, and the Doctor hasn't made a conscious decision not to do so, either, so fully expects to see and work with both of them again. Indeed he does stop by to visit later in the season, but by then the break is more apparent; in that story the Doctor is investigating a case that happens to involve UNIT, rather than working a case with them, and that's pretty much the last we see of them - fading out of the show with a whimper rather than a bang.
Sarah, on the other hand, is well and truly up for the game, agreeing to return to London in the Tardis on the strict condition that they do go straight back to London - even while knowing perfectly well, as they all do, that there is no way London is going to be the next destination. She trusts the Doctor to get her home eventually and in the meantime…there's a whole universe to explore. That shared love of adventure is why she and the Doctor make such a good team.
Quotable Quotes
DOCTOR: "I want to know one thing, Brigadier. What's that?"
BRIGADIER: "That, Doctor, is a kilt."
DOCTOR: "Suits you very well."
SARAH: "Anyway, it's nice to see you again, Brigadier."
BRIGADIER: "And you, Miss Smith."
SARAH: "Though I didn't expect to see you in a kilt."
DOCTOR: "Have you brought me two hundred and seventy million miles just to sort out a little trouble at sea?"
BRIGADIER: "Three serious disasters, Doctor!"
DOCTOR: "When I left the psionic beam with you, Brigadier, I said it was only to be used in an emergency."
BRIGADIER: "This is an emergency."
DOCTOR: "Oil an emergency? Huh! It's about time the people who run this planet of yours realised that to be dependent upon a mineral slime just doesn't make sense. Now, the energising of hydrogen…"
BRIGADIER: "Doctor, the destruction of these rigs is a complete mystery. Do you want more men to die?"
DOCTOR: "No. Very well. When do we start?"
HUCKLE: "Doctor, do you mind telling us exactly what you're doing?"
DOCTOR: "A little experiment in orthodontology, Mister Huckle."
HUCKLE: "Orthodontology?"
DOCTOR: "Teeth. Teeth. The scientific study of teeth […] It's the cast of a tooth, wouldn't you say?"
HUCKLE: "Teeth? Doctor, you can't be serious."
DOCTOR: "Teeth are very serious things, Mister Huckle."
SARAH: "Doctor, I can't breathe."
DOCTOR: "Shut up and save your breath."
BRIGADIER: "There are times, Doctor, when you do talk absolute nonsense."
SARAH: "You're taking an awful risk, Doctor. You don't know how fast this thing can move."
DOCTOR: "It doesn't know how fast I can move."
BENTON: "We're looking for bugs."
McRANALD: "Oh, bugs, is it. Well, you can tell your Brigadier from me that this is a clean house."
BENTON: "Yes, well, it's not that sort of bug we were looking for."
BRIGADIER: "We have reason to believe there's something rather unusual in the Loch."
FORGILL: "Loch Ness?"
BRIGADIER: "Yes, sir."
FORGILL: "Don't tell me you've found the monster."
SARAH: "As it happens, your Grace, that's just what we do mean."
FORGILL: "I do believe you're serious."
DOCTOR: "We are. Very."
FORGILL: "Doctor, are you a party to this militaristic nonsense?"
DOCTOR: "I'm not a party to any kind of nonsense, your Grace."
BRIGADIER: "I know it sounds improbable, sir, but we do have evidence."
FORGILL: "Improbable? It's utterly, totally absurd. Aliens?"
BRIGADIER: "I know exactly how you feel, sir. Before I joined UNIT, I was highly sceptical about these things."
FORGILL: "You're all utterly unhinged. Must be. Aliens with wireless sets?"
DOCTOR: "Well, it takes all sorts to make a galaxy, your Grace."
SARAH: "Have you never sighted this monster yourself?"
FORGILL: "That would be impossible. It doesn't exist."
SARAH: "Yet there are all these books on the subject."
FORGILL: "There is no limit to human credulity, Miss Smith."
SARAH: "Is it you?"
HARRY: "What do you mean, 'is it me'?"
SARAH: "Is it really you?"
HARRY: "Well of course it is. What on Earth's the matter with you, old girl?"
[Sarah grins]
BROTON: "You admire our technology, human?"
DOCTOR: "Well, I'm not human, and I've seen better."
BROTON: "Better than this?"
DOCTOR: "Very good, very good. Almost impressive."
DOCTOR: "You've been hiding too long, Broton. It's become a habit."
BROTON: "What do you mean?"
DOCTOR: "I thought the plan was to conquer the world."
BROTON: "The plan has not changed."
DOCTOR: "But you can't rule a world in hiding. You've got to come out onto the balcony sometimes and wave a tentacle, if you'll pardon the expression."
BROTON: "You admire our technology, human?"
DOCTOR: "Well, I'm not human, and I've seen better."
DOCTOR: "You're underestimating human beings, Broton."
DOCTOR: "Was that bang big enough for you, Brigadier?"
DUKE: "I imagine the whole business caused quite a stir."
BRIGADIER: "No, the Cabinet's accepted my report and the whole affair's now completely closed."
DUKE: "You mean it never happened."
BRIGADIER: "Well, a fifty foot monster can't swim up the Thames and attack a large building without some people noticing, but you know what politicians are like."
DOCTOR: "That's the Tardis. And I'm going to pilot it all the way to London. I can be there five minutes ago."
SARAH: "Just a minute, Doctor. I thought you couldn't do that."
DOCTOR: "Of course I can. Coming?"
BRIGADIER: "No, thank you."
HARRY: "I think I'll stick to InterCity this time, Doctor."
DOCTOR: "Sarah?"
SARAH: "Er…"
DOCTOR: "No?"
SARAH: "All right. Providing we do go straight back to London."
DOCTOR: "Oh yes, we will. I promise."
The Verdict
Okay, so that got a lot longer than I expected - the more attached I am to the characters, the wordier I get, and there are a lot of familiar and beloved characters in this story to mull over.
Overall, I really enjoy this adventure, despite it being so very plot-heavy, which isn't usually my taste - especially when the basic plot, when you scratch the surface, is a bit weak. But Douglas Camfield's beautiful direction and sparkling performances from the actors combine with the fast pace of the adventure to really lift it above what it could have been. I enjoy how detailed the story is, and find that although as individuals none of the supporting characters really receive a huge amount of focus, who they each are is showcased well enough within that plot-driven framework to satisfy me, on the whole; I certainly managed to glean a good amount of character musing out of it. I mean, there is a lot that I think they could have done better, especially where serving the characters is concerned, but taken as a whole, there is more than enough in this story to satisfy me. This is a solidly entertaining Doctor Who adventure, what we see of the characters is absolutely spot-on, all round, and the actors involved all bring real presence to whatever screen-time they get. The Doctor, Sarah, Harry, the Brigadier, Benton - there's a real camaraderie and sense of friendship and of team, which I love…which makes it all the more of a shame that this is, in fact, the end of that team.
Overview
As a favoured story from a favoured era of the show, I really wish this one was out on DVD already. This is a classic Doctor Who adventure, action-packed from beginning to end, blending human legend with an alien invasion story, a UNIT investigation thrown in for good measure, and the flamboyant Fourth Doctor himself striding nonchalantly through the middle of it all in his own inimitable style.
This is the season 13 premiere, and it is a story about lasts. This is the last case the Doctor ever works as an official affiliate of UNIT in the classic show; although we do run into UNIT again after this, just once or twice, we don't ever see the Doctor working a case as part of their team in this way again. This is the last case we ever see Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart work as head of UNIT, as well, sad to say. And it is also Harry Sullivan's last adventure as a companion of the Doctor, much to my regret because I love Harry. This adventure is positioned in the show as a story about cutting ties with the past and moving forward. Sarah Jane chooses to move forward with the Doctor at the end of the story, leaving her life on Earth behind, while Harry chooses to move forward with his own life, leaving his Tardis interlude behind.
Observations
Random thoughts while watching:
Okay, so this story wins me over the moment the Tardis trio appear on-screen, tramping their way across the supposedly Scottish countryside because the Doctor has landed slightly off-target. The Doctor, we immediately see, has donned a tartan scarf and Tam o'Shanter in honour of the trip to Scotland…but is using his companions as a kind of mobile hat stand so as not to leave his customary apparel behind. It's such a cute detail, not commented on on-screen at all. It simply is, thrown in for us to grin at: Sarah wearing the Doctor's usual floppy wide-brimmed hat while his trademark outsize scarf is looped around Harry's neck, looking even more outsize on Harry than it does on the Doctor, since although tall Harry isn't as tall as the Doctor and is a slighter build. All three appear to be in cheerful high spirits and look like they are having fun, enjoying each other's company as they wander through the countryside and no doubt relishing not being in any kind of danger, for the time being at least. This kind of comfortable, affectionate character dynamic is always a good start to any story, so I am happy to see it.
Sarah has got changed again since they took off from Nerva Beacon at the end of the last story, Revenge of the Cybermen, but Harry is still stuck in the same outfit he's been wearing ever since they left Earth way back in the season 12 premiere, Robot. If Sarah is allowed to change her clothes from adventure to adventure, why isn't Harry?
I rather like the way a couple of nifty little scene cuts are employed to give the impression that our intrepid trio have had rather a long walk across the moors before they finally find a road. Nicely done, director. I love that they just flag down the first car they see to hitch a ride into the village, where UNIT have set up shop for their latest investigation, which is the reason they have summoned the Doctor back to Earth, using the 'space time telegraph system' he apparently left with them for just that purpose.
I am not going to comment on the many Scottish stereotypes thrown into the story in odd places, just to remind us that we're in Scotland.
At the inn where UNIT has set up its base of operations, I am rather intrigued to hear the Brigadier say that the Doctor 'ought to have materialised by now' in front of civilians. Of course, we know he means 'materialised' quite literally, but I suppose it sounds innocuous enough to the uninitiated.
At the end of Robot, the Doctor pretty much tricked Harry into entering the Tardis. It was a joke that wasn't intended to go quite as far as it did. Now, in contrast to Sarah, who is a freelance journalist and her own boss, Harry is a naval officer attached to UNIT as their medical officer and therefore very much not a free agent, so that when he left Earth with the Doctor - completely inadvertently on his part, he didn't knowingly agree to be taken off for a tour of the universe - he was technically going AWOL and could, in theory, face charges upon his return. Lucky for him, then, that he works for Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, who knows the Doctor only too well and regards staff members disappearing in the Tardis as no more than an occupational hazard! Several protracted adventures through time and space later, from Harry's point of view, we aren't told how much time has passed on Earth, but it's got to be weeks if not months, yet the Brigadier doesn't so much as bat an eyelid when his missing medical officer turns up with the Doctor, and Harry is allowed to just slide back into the swing of things with UNIT as if he's never been away.
I love the way the Doctor and Sarah both poke fun at the Brigadier's kilt, donned in honour of the Scottish portion of his ancestry. The Brigadier is the perfect straight man for that kind of joke - he is so very English, Scots ancestry or no!
I rather enjoy the furious debate the Doctor and the Brigadier have over whether or not this current investigation is enough of an emergency to be worth the Doctor's while returning to Earth to help with. Several oil rigs have been destroyed in mysterious circumstances, but the Doctor does not believe this is remotely worthy of his time and attention. His bored attitude as the Brigadier explains the situation is very reminiscent of Three, in fact, who was disdainful of UNIT's investigations more often than not, even when they turned out to be full blown alien invasions. The Brigadier doesn't back down, however. His spidey-sense is tingling like mad; he knows that there is more going on here than meets the eye - and he is right. He has to point out the catastrophic loss of life before the Doctor deigns to agree that maybe something should be done to find out what's going on before any more lives are lost. It's almost like old times: the Third Doctor had pretty much this exact debate with the Brigadier countless times. This is the last time, though, as this is the one and only time the Brigadier ever uses that psionic beam the Doctor gave him; he never calls the Doctor back ever again after this, maybe because there are no more crises worthy of it, but maybe more probably because he knows, deep down, that the Doctor's always begrudged time with UNIT is at an end now.
I really like the way we can see Sarah, Harry and Benton having a quiet little chat among themselves in the background of the Doctor's conversation with the Brigadier. They are probably talking about the case, but I like to imagine maybe Sarah and Harry are telling Benton something of their adventures with the Doctor since the last time he saw them!
Visiting Mr Huckle, the fake American head of the oil company whose rigs have been destroyed, Harry is handed a medical report into the workers killed on the rigs, so presumably he was introduced to Huckle as UNIT's medical officer, which means he really has just picked up the reins of that role as if he never left. Harry makes a few observations about the autopsy reports and then decides to take a look at the bodies for himself, sounding very professional, which pleases me as I like it when Harry is allowed to play to his strengths, as a doctor and medical officer. It is noteworthy that he is automatically deferring to the Brigadier once more, as his senior officer, rather than to the Doctor, as he would have on their travels - already sliding out of companion mode and back into everyday life mode.
Sarah also gets to put her professional skills to good use in this story, doing her investigative journalist thing interviewing villagers, in hopes of learning something of value to the investigation. She doesn't seem to get very far, though - mostly all we see of her interviews is a conversation with innkeeper McRanald, who claims to have second sight and tells her a few local legends about disappearances on the nearby moors, while the deeply sceptical Sarah pretty much mocks him openly, which I've got to say is rather ruder than I would normally expect her to be. And given what we later learn about the monster in Loch Ness, there is probably at least a degree of truth in those tall tales McRanald tells her!
Throughout episode one, we only catch glimpses of the eponymous Zygons - an eye here, a hand on a control there - just enough to know that the Brigadier's spidey-sense was right. There are aliens in the vicinity…and they have got bugs all over the village, keeping a close watch on goings on.
I've got to say, the director did a really lovely job with the scene where a single survivor of one of the oil rigs is washed up on the shore. There is something beautifully eerie about the sequence where the man slowly staggers out of the sea, silhouetted by the light shining off the water behind him, and the rather haunting musical score is just perfect.
Harry is driving past just in time to see the man collapse, so, being Harry, he immediately leaps out of his UNIT land rover and sprints across the dunes to tend to him…only for the man to be shot dead in his arms by a sniper! The director did a good job with the set-up for this scene, too, the way he pulls back to show the sniper's perspective as he takes careful aim. This is quite a good little sequence for actor Ian Marter as Harry leaps to his feet in shock and alarm, scanning the surrounding dunes for any sign of the sniper - there is absolutely no cover for him, nowhere to hide, and he knows it. A moment later, a second shot rings out and Harry tumbles over backward and lies still, with a close-up showing us blood smeared across his face. This is a 1975 episode of Doctor Who and a companion just got shot in the head, with actual blood and everything! Shocking stuff! I am very impressed.
I am even more impressed that the wound remains more or less visible, just above Harry's left eye, for the remainder of the story - nice effort, make-up team, by the standard of the time. The bullet grazed his skull, we are told, which means he is very lucky, really, that the sniper's aim was ever so slightly off, since he was clearly shooting to kill. There is something terribly ironic about the fact that Harry has been through all these hair-raising adventures through time and space with the Doctor and survived them all more or less unscathed, and then the moment he's back on Earth doing his day job with UNIT, he gets shot.
I rather like the little scene between the Doctor and Sarah back at the inn, wherein Sarah is still being flippant about the innkeeper's claim to have second sight, expecting the Doctor to share the joke, but instead he thoughtfully observes that the bagpipe music the innkeeper keeps playing, which has been annoying everyone so much, is a lament for the dead. It's a very subtle reproof for thoughtlessly mocking the man and a reminder that there are always other perspectives. I like it. Although it would probably mean more if the Doctor didn't do much the same thing himself from time to time, including in this story!
The fake American oil rig manager, Huckle, is very loud and obnoxious, but you can't really fault him for that, since his workers keep being killed and his rigs destroyed and no one can tell him why. His anxiety is more than justified!
You know, we don't often see the Doctor dancing attendance at the sickbed of a wounded companion, he usually manages to avoid letting them get broken to that extent, so it's interesting to see him lurking at Harry's bedside at the oil company's sick bay. He seems equal parts concerned about his friend's injury (detached, because this is Four, but concerned) and anxious to find out what happened and how it relates to the case so he can get on with solving the puzzle, of which this is just another part. But Harry has a head injury and is under sedation, so isn't exactly forthcoming with any details - the impatient Doctor even tries yelling in his ear, but can't rouse him!
I really enjoy seeing the Doctor playing detective, making a plaster of Paris cast of the unusual marks found on some of the oil rig wreckage to demonstrate to all sceptics that they were made by a set of giant teeth! He is so very clever and observant, but also so very offbeat with his lines of enquiry, so that those around him often struggle to follow his leaps of logic. Somewhere out there in the North Sea is a very large, very powerful creature and its controllers don't want anyone to know that it exists, he surmises, which is why the oil rig survivor was killed - and also why Harry was shot, in case the man had told him anything incriminating.
While the Doctor is busily investigating, Sarah volunteers to sit with the comatose Harry in sick bay, which is both rather sweet and a bit of a role reversal for those two - several times during their adventures together we've seen Harry doctoring Sarah after some misadventure or other, now it's her turn to fuss over him! I always enjoy a spot of role reversal.
This was Ian Marter's last adventure as a series regular and he doesn't have a huge role in it, but he does have a few really good scenes that demonstrate how strong and subtle an actor he could be when given decent material to get his teeth into. He is very good in the scene where Harry regains consciousness, convincingly muzzy and confused and he really looks as if it hurts to open his eyes. Nicely played.
Our first good look at a Zygon makes for a decent cliffhanger episode ending, as the creepy nurse at the sick bay turns out to be an alien in disguise. It's always so inconvenient when aliens are able to take on human form and sneak around covertly, makes investigating (and evading) them that much harder!
When Harry found the oil rig survivor, he was shot in the head to prevent him telling anyone what the man had said to him. So far so reasonable, from a Zygon point of view, so it really isn't clear why they then change their strategy completely when he survives the assassination attempt. The Zygon disguised as a nurse was ideally positioned to quietly bump him off before he had a chance to talk to anyone, but instead she waits for him to wake up and then abducts him while Sarah is out of the room, for no immediately apparent reason.
The Zygon locks Sarah in a decompression chamber to get her out of the way, although there is again no readily apparent reason why, other than to generate a bit of drama, since I'm sure there are easier ways of killing a witness and it probably could have snuck Harry out of the building without Sarah noticing anyway. Then when the Doctor finds her there, he ends up locked in as well, with the air pressure plummeting, since the Zygons have noticed that he is clever enough to be a real threat to them. It isn't the first time these two have almost suffocated together - and probably won't be the last! What's interesting about this scene is that the Doctor, unable to find any way of getting them out of the room in time, puts first Sarah and then himself into such a deep trance that they don't even need to breathe - and the direction of that scene is rather lovely, hats off to Douglas Camfield once again. 'A trick I picked up from a Tibetan monk,' the Doctor claims. He attempts something similar again a few years later in Four to Doomsday, although with rather more fuss and slightly less success.
I love that Benton gets to find the Doctor and Sarah in the decompression chamber and save both of their lives. I like it when Benton is allowed to be capable and efficient and make positive contributions.
It amuses me that the Brigadier, like the Doctor, likes to have someone around to think out loud at. Any subordinate will do, if he doesn't have a trusted friend or peer at hand, although he prefers it if he gets at least a bit of an intelligent response back.
It all gets a bit weird and mysterious when the Zygons gas an entire village full of people, just so that no one will notice when their pet monster moves between the sea and a nearby loch. The Brigadier's outraged reaction, later, to the suggestion that he's been sleeping on the job is priceless. I love the way the Doctor and Sarah grin at each other over this reaction, sharing the joke. They have such a fabulous relationship, those two.
With the Brigadier temporarily indisposed, it amuses me to see the Doctor snapping brisk orders at Benton, who scurries to comply - the Doctor wouldn't dream of usurping the Brigadier's authority ordinarily, but he'll happily insert himself at the top of the chain of command if the Brig is unavailable, and the UNIT underlings accept his authority completely.
Harry has been taken to the Zygon spaceship, which is apparently sitting at the bottom of Loch Ness. He was barely conscious when he was snatched from his hospital bed and remains visibly woozy still - he's definitely concussed - but he handles the alien abduction fairly well in the circumstances. He sounds rather weak and wan and afraid, but stands his ground nonetheless and argues against their grand threats while asking all the obvious but necessary questions to keep them talking, learning as much as he can about them. They are obligingly communicative, dropping stacks of exposition on him, and leave him lurking in a corner of their control room for absolutely ages, which means he is privy to a number of conversations that might have been better held in private - our first clue that these creatures really aren't as well organised or efficient as they think they are.
It is so very wonderfully Doctor Who to take a human legend like the Loch Ness monster and have it turn out to be an alien creature hiding out in the loch!
I really enjoy watching the Doctor in detective mode, assembling clues and piecing them together to solve a mystery, his uniquely broad perspective always giving him an advantage over mere human investigators where this kind of alien puzzle is concerned.
I love how organic the design of the Zygons and their spacecraft are. Their whispery, hissing voices are also nifty touch, reinforcing the concept of them as strange, amphibious aliens. The set design for their ship is fantastic and still holds up really well today. This is an alien race that could easily be revisited by the modern show, as they'd fit right in with today's production style.
The design of the Zygon's pet monster, the Skarasen, isn't so good, though. Downright lousy, in fact. The FX team tried hard to realise the concept of it with stop-motion animation, but it just doesn't work. Still, we can't have everything, and the production standard of this story is otherwise pretty high, given the miniscule budget they were working with.
Left alone at the inn for a while, Sarah finds a typewriter and starts typing up her notes about the case as a possible story for publication, which is rather interesting. Although this latest trip away from Earth lasted rather longer than anticipated, at this point the Doctor hasn't made a permanent break with this place and time; since she met him he has always been based out of UNIT and after their trips off-world together he has always returned to that base, for a longer or shorter period. Travelling with the Doctor is still an occasional interlude for her, then, rather than a regular and permanent arrangement, and in between those trips she still has to earn a living. So, just as Harry got right back on with his everyday job as soon as he was back on terra firma, because this is real life and that trip in the Tardis was merely an unexpected hiatus from it, Sarah is attempting to do much the same thing here.
Because the exposition has to be got across to the audience somehow, the aliens continue to over-share, boasting about their technology to Harry in some detail: they can assume human form, they explain, but have to have an original to copy. They already have several key individuals from the village, including local laird the Duke of Forgill and that creepy nurse from sick bay. The special effect for the Zygons as they change form is pretty good, for 1975 - although I'm not sure what Harry's concussed brain makes of it!
I'm also not sure why the Zygons think it would be a good idea to send one of their number into the village disguised as Harry to retrieve a piece of technology that was found among oil rig wreckage, a signalling device used to control the Skarasen. Their other human facsimiles have worked well because they were discreet, no one knew they'd been swapped, whereas although no one seems overly concerned about Harry's disappearance from his hospital bed, given how much else is going on, it's common knowledge that it happened, so when he turns up again right as rain it is inevitably going to cause comment, which doesn't make it the stealthiest disguise ever! The Zygon doesn't even manage a particularly good Harry impression, at that, so that although Sarah's first reaction upon seeing him is delight, it is quickly followed by suspicion because it is clear that something isn't quite right. Everything about Not-Harry is just different enough for the fakeness to be apparent, from body language to intonation - nicely played by Ian Marter. Even knowing that he is a fake, mind, it is still rather shocking to see him shove Sarah aside to make his escape; the real Harry Sullivan would never, ever raise a hand to a woman. Still, Not-Harry isn't very fast, as it turns out. Sarah has time to run in the opposite direction to find a few UNIT soldiers loitering nearby and yell orders at them, and then still manages to catch up with him! Hiding out in a handy nearby barn, he attacks her with a pitchfork, and this is a really, really effective scene, which Marter makes absolutely terrifying, aided and abetted by excellent direction, lighting and musical score. Whoever would have guessed that sweet, bumbling Harry could be so menacing?
When Not-Harry is killed and turns back into Zygon form, the real Harry is awakened and released from the little body print alcove he'd been stuffed into on the Zygon ship, but the other Zygons are too busy panicking about the loss of one of their number to notice or care that he is now unrestrained. This kind of carelessness and underestimation of their enemy is a big part of why they ultimately fail - that and the fact that their overall plan is, frankly, stupid, of course.
Since their one attempt at stealth hasn't worked, the Zygons decide a full-blown all-out assault is now their best option for retrieving the control device, so they activate it and send the Skarasen off after it - in broad daylight, this enormous creature that they were so keen no one should know exist! Yeah, strategic thinking really isn't their forte. The Doctor gets a really good action sequence as he grabs the controller and takes off with it, to draw the monster away from populated areas while UNIT try to triangulate the source of the signal. Unfortunately for the Doctor, first his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and then the controller fuses itself to his hand, with the Skarasen practically on top of him - it makes for a good cliffhanger episode end!
It's just as well for the Doctor, then, that the Zygons are so unthreatened by Harry that they haven't bothered restraining him again after the duplication failure, but rather have left him free to roam around their ship at will, so that he wanders back into the control room at the crucial moment, sees what they are doing, and throws himself at the console, pressing every button he can reach. They knock him out again pretty quickly, which can't be good for his concussion, but he's already done enough to save the Doctor from the Skarasen. It isn't the first time Harry has saved the Doctor's life during their acquaintance, but I don't think anyone ever finds out that he did it, this time, so he never gets credit for the save.
Visiting Forgill Castle to seek the Duke's permission to investigate Loch Ness, the source of the signal, the Doctor rather mischievously makes fun of the old laird in absentia - which is pretty much exactly the kind of thing he was a bit disapproving of Sarah doing earlier!
I am highly entertained by the four-way conversation in which the Doctor, the Brigadier and Sarah attempt to convince the sceptical Duke that there really is a monster in Loch Ness. Even knowing that the Duke is a Zygon duplicate deliberately playing dumb to mislead them doesn't make it any less funny!
This is a pretty good story for Benton, on the whole. I mean, his character remains as much of a blank slate as ever - we know next to nothing about him as a person, not even his first name, even after all these years - but as an experienced UNIT soldier, he gets a good run-out in this story, lots of solid action for him as he dashes around rallying his troops and hunting for bugs and whatnot.
Benton and his troops manage to corner and wound one of the Zygons, which hastily resumes its human disguise - the creepy nurse - in order to evade them. What is really striking about this scene is that not only are we told that the Zygon nurse has been shot, but we are shown that she has blood dripping down her arm. Not a small amount of blood, either, but a great long stream of it! For 1975 Doctor Who, this story is surprisingly gritty where the injury realism is concerned.
I like this story a lot, but it isn't perfect, far from it. One of its flaws is a very common one for this era: there is no clear sense of time passing. All of this action definitely doesn't happen over the course of a single day, probably more like three or even four, but because day and night are not clearly delineated, it is impossible to tell how much time is passing.
The Doctor's decision to leave Sarah alone at Forgill Castle to browse through the library in search of Nessie references seems more of a plot device than anything else. The story requires her to find the secret entrance to the Zygons' lair, so she needs to be in the right place to do so. The way the Zygon laird and his sidekick leave her alone to explore the room, knowing that the secret entrance is right there to be discovered, is similarly a plot device that doesn't entirely make sense from a character motivation perspective. It plays out smoothly enough on-screen, though, that we can just about accept it as the Doctor thinking it is a safe place to leave Sarah, the research a flimsy excuse to keep her away from the action, and the Zygons being too distracted by their wounded colleague to really think straight…not to mention underestimating her intelligence, which is consistent for their attitude toward humans.
I love watching Sarah oh-so tentatively exploring the secret passage that leads to the Zygon spaceship. She's alone and she's scared but she isn't about to turn back because this is too important and there is no one around to help her, so she'll do it on her own, however dangerous. I especially love how freaked out she is by the automatic doors with their motion detectors, opening as she approaches and then closing behind her. From the way she panics and checks they work in reverse so she can get out again, she doesn't seem to have ever encountered the like before. Automatic doors clearly weren't as commonplace in 1975 as they are today!
For all their grand plans, there are only a handful of Zygons - the crew of a small ship that had to make an emergency landing, centuries earlier, and has been stuck here in hiding ever since, they told Harry earlier - so that staff shortage could be part of the reason Sarah is able to wander around their ship for quite some time, unhindered. On her travels, she finds Harry locked away in a little side chamber, apparently having a bit of a lie down, in the absence of anything better to do - the rest seems to have done him the power of good, mind, as he is no longer wobbly from the head wound, although I'm not sure incarceration on an alien spaceship would be doctor recommended for concussion! I love that Sarah gets to be the one who rescues Harry from the Zygon ship, but even more than that I love that it happens after she was attacked by the Zygon wearing his form and that she is allowed to be affected by that experience, hesitating before unlocking the door, needing to know for sure that it really is the real Harry this time before she lets him out. Harry is apparently having one of his slow-on-the-uptake moments (we could be kind and blame the head injury, but, you know, it's Harry) because he knows that the Zygons can take human form, he's seen them do it, and he knows that they took his body print so they could duplicate him, yet he doesn't seem to grasp that this is the reason Sarah is being so cautious - and she isn't about to tell him that his double tried to kill her. More than anything else about this scene, I love that it is when he calls her 'old girl' that Sarah is finally reassured - the perfect final use of that long-running character gag. And I love the way Sarah beams her delight as she unlocks the door, and that she very nearly throws herself into his arms for a reunion hug, only to be foiled by Harry quickly spinning her around a corner instead because they've heard someone coming. And then as they make their escape, Harry goes the wrong way and Sarah has to grab his hand and yank him after her. Hee! These characters have a lovely rapport and I'm so sad that we don't see it again after this story.
Back at Forgill Castle, the Doctor and the Brigadier don't seem as surprised as they probably should be when both Sarah and Harry suddenly burst out of a secret tunnel babbling about aliens and hidden spaceships and imposters. They don't have time to be surprised, not if they want to keep up with the plot, which is zooming along at quite a rip now. I like that the Doctor makes a point of asking his companions if they are the real thing, nonchalantly but pointedly, and that Harry is just as bemused about this coming from the Doctor as he was with Sarah, which is all the confirmation the Doctor needs! I also like that the Doctor quietly tells Harry it's good to see him again, before re-focusing on the ongoing investigation - that tiny, throwaway exchange is the only meaningful interaction we get between those two characters in this whole story, which is a shame as they also have a great rapport, when they are allowed to properly interact. This story was the last opportunity to let them play off one another, as Doctor and companion, and it doesn't take it.
I would complain about the Doctor dashing off to take a look at the alien spaceship for himself, without waiting for backup or to formulate a proper plan or anything, but that kind of impulsiveness is typical of him, really. He doesn't even take the time to have a quick chat with Harry, who has spent a fair bit of time on the Zygon ship and therefore might have some useful information to exchange, which means that some of the conversations the Doctor has with the Zygons, upon promptly getting himself captured, are a bit repetitive, from the audience's point of view.
The Doctor being captured means that Harry is very briefly UNIT's chief source of information about the aliens, which is rather an unprecedented position for him to be in. Not that UNIT are especially interested in finding out who the Zygons are or what they want - the Brigadier's default is still to just blow things up until the enemy submits!
I love that when UNIT start dropping depth charges into Loch Ness, much to the alarm of the Zygons, the Doctor just shrugs that it sounds like the Brigadier. How well he knows his old friend. I'm glad they spent some quality time both butting heads and strategising together in this story, as it is the last time they ever work together like this, as part of a full-blown UNIT investigation.
I do enjoy watching Sarah, Harry and Benton standing around chatting among themselves in the background of any given scene. I like that the director shows them doing this more than once in this story - I always appreciate it when characters in the background of a scene are allowed to look busy, rather than just standing around doing nothing, it feels more natural and real. Plus it reinforces the idea of a real friendship between them…not to mention showing us that they are thinking for themselves, coming up with ideas for what to do next, in the absence of the Doctor.
Episode four is where this story really starts to falter a bit under its own weight - this is one of those rare four-part stories that I feel might actually have benefited from being stretched out over a couple more episodes. It is a very plot-heavy story, which on the one hand works well for it, since condensing that very busy plot into four episodes means it is fast-paced and action-packed enough that you don't really have time to notice the woollier, clunkier elements of the narrative structure. But on the other hand, it is almost too fast-paced, in a way, struggling to pack the story it wants to tell into the time available. It feels very rushed in places, and it might have been nice to get a bit of breathing space and expand on a few of the ideas, which an extra episode or two might have allowed - not to mention a bit more meaningful character interaction.
The Doctor always seems to come into his own when he is one-on-one with an opponent, matching wits with them and sounding them out, gauging their strength and capacity, learning what he can about their plans - often while a prisoner, yet always so casual and unconcerned about his predicament. After all, more often it is when opponents think they have him at their mercy that he is at his most dangerous, and he will deliberately put himself in that position, for that reason. He does so like for his enemies to underestimate him, which allows him to catch them unawares when he takes the upper hand. This is Tom Baker at his absolute peak, his Doctor effortlessly charismatic as he gently mocks his Zygon captors, just biding his time before taking action, utterly unafraid. As alien invaders set on world domination go, these are small fry compared to others he's seen.
I like that Sarah and Harry get to go on one last investigative foray together, searching the castle for whatever useful information they can glean. It's rather a pointless little scene, really - although I can see what they were trying to do there, having Sarah make note of what at the time seems a completely useless snippet of information that later proves relevant - but I like it anyway because it shows them working together as a unit, as the Doctor's companions, one last time. Also it amuses me that they then have to walk all the way back to the village on foot, since the Brigadier didn't leave them any means of transport when he dropped them off - although again, I'm not sure that kind of exertion would be doctor recommended for someone recovering from a nasty head injury!
The Zygons state quite clearly that before their homeworld was destroyed, a great fleet of refugee ships was assembled, which they have signalled to join them on Earth, as a suitable planet for colonisation. They expect the fleet to take several centuries to arrive, and we aren't told that the Doctor gets in touch to tell them not to bother, so the arrival of that fleet (expecting a de-populated and terraformed Earth to claim as their own) would definitely make for a good NuWho story!
The Zygons abandon Loch Ness and set down somewhere near London. They jam all radar signals, so that UNIT can't track them - but you'd think someone would notice a whacking great spaceship landing and raise the alarm, surely!
UNIT having decamped from Scotland and returned to London, Benton has rather a sweet little conversation with Sarah, trying to cheer her up with chocolate and optimism as she frets about the Doctor. I like it. I mean, I wish Harry were in this scene as well, but it works as it is: these two go back a long way. Then when the phone rings I am enormously amused by the way Sarah jumps to answer it…and then realises she really doesn't have either the authority or the security clearance to be taking high level calls at UNIT, so sheepishly hands the phone over. The phone call is for the Brigadier, from the Prime Minister - who he addresses as 'madam'. This in a story that aired four years before Margaret Thatcher became Britain's first female PM. Very forward thinking, Show!
The Doctor sabotages the Zygons' communication system to send out a signal for UNIT to trace - electrocuting himself in the process. I rather like the way the sequence here is set up, cutting back and forth between the folk at UNIT getting all hopeful and excited about being able to trace the ship at last and the Zygons declaring the Doctor dead. That's quite effective, nicely done. Of course, the Doctor opens his eyes just seconds after the Zygons have left the room, proving that they are as careless about confirming the demise of their enemies as they are lousy at strategic planning! They deserve everything they get.
I am very, very amused by the way the Doctor rescues the human prisoners from the Zygons by triggering the fire alarm - very creative thinking. He then traps the aliens on board and triggers the self-destruct, demonstrating that he will kill sentient beings in the right circumstances. It amuses me that the ship blows up just as UNIT arrive - but also frustrates me, a little. I'm not sure if it's the Doctor or the show proving that he doesn't really need them, but I just find it a bit of a shame that a story that was set up as a UNIT adventure doesn't make better use of them, in the end, especially as it is the last proper UNIT story.
Harry has very much faded into the background in this final episode of the story and I find that a shame, too, for much the same reasons - this is his final story as a companion of the Doctor, and it is a pity it doesn't make better use of him. He has even changed back into his naval uniform at this point, symbolic, in a sense, of his demotion from series regular to just another UNIT officer making up numbers.
You'd think that would be the end of the story, but no, there is still a bit more plot to wade through, as the Zygon leader Broton has escaped to try to enact their plan to achieve world domination by having the Skarasen attack a bunch of world leaders at a conference in London. Yeah, like I said, strategic thinking really isn't their strong point! The woolliness of the Zygons' plan is a real weakness of the story. They look great, as Doctor Who aliens go, but they really aren't that bright.
Aww, I love seeing the Doctor and Sarah sharing a joke as they team up to search the conference building. They are totally on the same wavelength, those two. But then a moment later I'm frustrated again as the Doctor, confronted by Broton, yells for Sarah to go and get help, but instead she just stands there gawping for ages, even though she has a clear path to the door.
Harry's very last bit of action as a companion is totally in character - hurrying to check on a red shirt UNIT soldier who was just throttled by Broton. Typically of the way Harry's time on the show has gone, though, the man is already dead so there is nothing he can do for him. At least he gets in a last little bit of banter with Sarah, and then they and the Doctor get a last scene together as a trio, watching the Skarasen swimming away down the Thames.
With all the Zygons dead and the Skarasen heading back for Loch Ness, the only home it knows, all that remains is for the Doctor and his entourage to return to Scotland to retrieve the Tardis. They apparently travel by train, and I am enormously amused at the thought of the Doctor, the Brigadier, Sarah and Harry all sitting around on a train together for the hours it would take to get from London to Loch Ness!
It's kind of a game, with the Fourth Doctor, to see who he can persuade to step into the Tardis with him whenever he leaves Earth. He did it in Robot and he does it again here. He can control the Tardis now, more or less, which his earlier incarnations never could, so he can afford for it to be a game. Where once he could never guarantee taking his travelling companions home again, which meant that taking people aboard was a serious undertaking, now he can be reasonably confident of getting them back, eventually, so sees no reason not to invite the people he likes to come along for a quick spin, however long that trip might turn out to be. The game lies in seeing just who is up for the adventure.
The Brigadier was never going to fall for that one, though, knowing the Doctor as well as he does - and Harry's decision to also say no, now that he knows what stepping into the Tardis means, while a shame, also doesn't come as a surprise, in the end; his departure was a production decision to streamline the cast, but the way it plays out is completely in character. And although the Doctor is fond of Harry, considers him a friend and would enjoy his company if he came for another trip, I don't think he ever really expected him to say yes, either. Harry doesn't have the curiosity and love of adventure that keep luring Sarah back to the Tardis time and again, and even if he did, it has always been clear that he isn't the kind of man to walk away from a commitment voluntarily, and he is committed to his career with UNIT and the Navy, not a free agent to roam wherever he pleases. He is home now, after not having chosen to leave in the first place. He's not falling for the Doctor's little game a second time.
So that's the end of Harry as a companion, after just six short adventures with the Fourth Doctor and Sarah. That handful of adventures have definitely made an impression, though: the Harry who leaves the Tardis here is a much more open-minded individual than the Harry we first met back in Robot, and is also a lot less hesitant where the unknown or unexpected are concerned. For the plot-driven '70s, that's about as much development as can be hoped for a character, really. I just wish his departure from the show weren't so abrupt and unsatisfying.
At this stage, though, no one knew that the Doctor's break with UNIT was going to become so permanent now; although the production team wanted to move away from Earth-based adventures, they hadn't made a deliberate choice at this stage to retire the UNIT set-up completely. If they had known that this was to be the last ever adventure of its kind, maybe the farewell would have been structured differently. Internal to the story, it is a very low key farewell since the Brigadier and Harry expect the Doctor to continue popping in and out of UNIT HQ, as has been his wont ever since regaining control of the Tardis, and the Doctor hasn't made a conscious decision not to do so, either, so fully expects to see and work with both of them again. Indeed he does stop by to visit later in the season, but by then the break is more apparent; in that story the Doctor is investigating a case that happens to involve UNIT, rather than working a case with them, and that's pretty much the last we see of them - fading out of the show with a whimper rather than a bang.
Sarah, on the other hand, is well and truly up for the game, agreeing to return to London in the Tardis on the strict condition that they do go straight back to London - even while knowing perfectly well, as they all do, that there is no way London is going to be the next destination. She trusts the Doctor to get her home eventually and in the meantime…there's a whole universe to explore. That shared love of adventure is why she and the Doctor make such a good team.
Quotable Quotes
DOCTOR: "I want to know one thing, Brigadier. What's that?"
BRIGADIER: "That, Doctor, is a kilt."
DOCTOR: "Suits you very well."
SARAH: "Anyway, it's nice to see you again, Brigadier."
BRIGADIER: "And you, Miss Smith."
SARAH: "Though I didn't expect to see you in a kilt."
DOCTOR: "Have you brought me two hundred and seventy million miles just to sort out a little trouble at sea?"
BRIGADIER: "Three serious disasters, Doctor!"
DOCTOR: "When I left the psionic beam with you, Brigadier, I said it was only to be used in an emergency."
BRIGADIER: "This is an emergency."
DOCTOR: "Oil an emergency? Huh! It's about time the people who run this planet of yours realised that to be dependent upon a mineral slime just doesn't make sense. Now, the energising of hydrogen…"
BRIGADIER: "Doctor, the destruction of these rigs is a complete mystery. Do you want more men to die?"
DOCTOR: "No. Very well. When do we start?"
HUCKLE: "Doctor, do you mind telling us exactly what you're doing?"
DOCTOR: "A little experiment in orthodontology, Mister Huckle."
HUCKLE: "Orthodontology?"
DOCTOR: "Teeth. Teeth. The scientific study of teeth […] It's the cast of a tooth, wouldn't you say?"
HUCKLE: "Teeth? Doctor, you can't be serious."
DOCTOR: "Teeth are very serious things, Mister Huckle."
SARAH: "Doctor, I can't breathe."
DOCTOR: "Shut up and save your breath."
BRIGADIER: "There are times, Doctor, when you do talk absolute nonsense."
SARAH: "You're taking an awful risk, Doctor. You don't know how fast this thing can move."
DOCTOR: "It doesn't know how fast I can move."
BENTON: "We're looking for bugs."
McRANALD: "Oh, bugs, is it. Well, you can tell your Brigadier from me that this is a clean house."
BENTON: "Yes, well, it's not that sort of bug we were looking for."
BRIGADIER: "We have reason to believe there's something rather unusual in the Loch."
FORGILL: "Loch Ness?"
BRIGADIER: "Yes, sir."
FORGILL: "Don't tell me you've found the monster."
SARAH: "As it happens, your Grace, that's just what we do mean."
FORGILL: "I do believe you're serious."
DOCTOR: "We are. Very."
FORGILL: "Doctor, are you a party to this militaristic nonsense?"
DOCTOR: "I'm not a party to any kind of nonsense, your Grace."
BRIGADIER: "I know it sounds improbable, sir, but we do have evidence."
FORGILL: "Improbable? It's utterly, totally absurd. Aliens?"
BRIGADIER: "I know exactly how you feel, sir. Before I joined UNIT, I was highly sceptical about these things."
FORGILL: "You're all utterly unhinged. Must be. Aliens with wireless sets?"
DOCTOR: "Well, it takes all sorts to make a galaxy, your Grace."
SARAH: "Have you never sighted this monster yourself?"
FORGILL: "That would be impossible. It doesn't exist."
SARAH: "Yet there are all these books on the subject."
FORGILL: "There is no limit to human credulity, Miss Smith."
SARAH: "Is it you?"
HARRY: "What do you mean, 'is it me'?"
SARAH: "Is it really you?"
HARRY: "Well of course it is. What on Earth's the matter with you, old girl?"
[Sarah grins]
BROTON: "You admire our technology, human?"
DOCTOR: "Well, I'm not human, and I've seen better."
BROTON: "Better than this?"
DOCTOR: "Very good, very good. Almost impressive."
DOCTOR: "You've been hiding too long, Broton. It's become a habit."
BROTON: "What do you mean?"
DOCTOR: "I thought the plan was to conquer the world."
BROTON: "The plan has not changed."
DOCTOR: "But you can't rule a world in hiding. You've got to come out onto the balcony sometimes and wave a tentacle, if you'll pardon the expression."
BROTON: "You admire our technology, human?"
DOCTOR: "Well, I'm not human, and I've seen better."
DOCTOR: "You're underestimating human beings, Broton."
DOCTOR: "Was that bang big enough for you, Brigadier?"
DUKE: "I imagine the whole business caused quite a stir."
BRIGADIER: "No, the Cabinet's accepted my report and the whole affair's now completely closed."
DUKE: "You mean it never happened."
BRIGADIER: "Well, a fifty foot monster can't swim up the Thames and attack a large building without some people noticing, but you know what politicians are like."
DOCTOR: "That's the Tardis. And I'm going to pilot it all the way to London. I can be there five minutes ago."
SARAH: "Just a minute, Doctor. I thought you couldn't do that."
DOCTOR: "Of course I can. Coming?"
BRIGADIER: "No, thank you."
HARRY: "I think I'll stick to InterCity this time, Doctor."
DOCTOR: "Sarah?"
SARAH: "Er…"
DOCTOR: "No?"
SARAH: "All right. Providing we do go straight back to London."
DOCTOR: "Oh yes, we will. I promise."
The Verdict
Okay, so that got a lot longer than I expected - the more attached I am to the characters, the wordier I get, and there are a lot of familiar and beloved characters in this story to mull over.
Overall, I really enjoy this adventure, despite it being so very plot-heavy, which isn't usually my taste - especially when the basic plot, when you scratch the surface, is a bit weak. But Douglas Camfield's beautiful direction and sparkling performances from the actors combine with the fast pace of the adventure to really lift it above what it could have been. I enjoy how detailed the story is, and find that although as individuals none of the supporting characters really receive a huge amount of focus, who they each are is showcased well enough within that plot-driven framework to satisfy me, on the whole; I certainly managed to glean a good amount of character musing out of it. I mean, there is a lot that I think they could have done better, especially where serving the characters is concerned, but taken as a whole, there is more than enough in this story to satisfy me. This is a solidly entertaining Doctor Who adventure, what we see of the characters is absolutely spot-on, all round, and the actors involved all bring real presence to whatever screen-time they get. The Doctor, Sarah, Harry, the Brigadier, Benton - there's a real camaraderie and sense of friendship and of team, which I love…which makes it all the more of a shame that this is, in fact, the end of that team.