Description

On the planet Tigella, the mysterious source of all power, the Dodecahedron, is failing.So Zastor, the leader of the planet, decides to call on an old friend - who travels the universe in a blue police box - to help them. Meanwhile, on the nearby dead planet of Zolfa-Thura, a rag-tag band of space raiders form an uneasy alliance with the cactus-like alien Meglos. Their first goal is to prevent the Time Lord from arriving on Tigella.Aboard the TARDIS, the Doctor, Romana and K9 find themselves trapped in a Chronic Hysterisis - a time loop that keeps them running through the same few moments again and again and again. Double trouble awaits them if they ever get to Tigella. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Barring some plot points, this story is a classic.
I agree with other reviewers that this story is a comparatively weak entry for Season 18. However, compared to any number of stories from seasons 11, 15, 17, and 24, this one is superlative.

I'll start with the bad: The only thing fundamentally wrong with this story is that it does too many things without saying much about why those things happen. Yes, there apparently was a civil war on Zolfa-Thura regarding the Dodecahedron power source. We would like to know more about that as the emphasis on this story feels flat because of it. Meglos can change form and inhabit other creatures - is this related to the civil war or a natural trait? Why does Meglos need a human (non-Tigellan) to inhabit, what's so special about the Tigellans that they couldn't be used as hosts? Meglos' ability to control time is the one remaining factor of interest... he's able to be and do so much and the viewer isn't told anything as to why. Except for mentioning a war... We know the Dodecahedron energy source mysteriously landed on Tigella - could this power source have been a key reason for the Zolfa-Thuran civil war, based on some sort of morality? Who knows? We do know that the Deons, ruled by Lexa, claim the energy source to be given to them by the Gods. The Savants, scientists, don't believe in the idea that the Gods helped them out and wish to study the device. But are barred by the Deons. It's a straightforward example of a theocracy and manages to keep the viewer from thinking of WHY they got the device in the first place, but that is also an anti-climax.

In short, the story essentially begs for a prequel (unlike re-using the Autons as rumored for this new Dr Who TV series...).

Now for the good:

Tom Baker's cactus make-up is superlative and almost disturbing to look at, the idea was conveyed exceptionally well.

The direction and camerawork is pretty inventive at times too.

So is the model work, though upon repeated viewings some of the limitations become obvious. (But for a low budget show made in 1980 to compare with mindless fluff like "Buck Rogers", this stuff still looks very good for the time. And if you look at any Buck Rogers episode, it looks cheaply done too.)

Whatever else can be said for the plotline (it needs a prequel!), the music makes it all the much better. Fortunately, the soundtrack had been released on its own and is well worth the purchase.

K9 gets abused and kicked around.

Jacqueline Hill (original companion Barbara - 1963-1965) was hired to play Preistess Lexa. As a couple of companions had played unrelated characters in the past, I see no reason to say this casting was biased in any way. Indeed, she does quite a passable job in the role of Lexa.

Acting, overall, is rather good. Tom Baker, as in all of season 18, excels. I'd gotten very tired of the excessively comic style and producer John Nathan-Turner made the right decision to make him more somber. The entire season has this somber effect, though it was never explained why the 4th Doctor's persona changed. (an "untelevised adventure" featuring a significant defeat against the Doctor would readily explain the change in attitude.) If only Tom Baker stayed on, what would season 19 have been like?

All in all, this story is worth at least a rental. Far worse stories exist, and this story is not worthy of the low reputation bestowed upon it.

Not the best story of Season 18, but not unwatchable
Romana: "Oh blast! Here we go again!"
Doctor: "Now what's wrong?"
Romana: "Now his probe circuit's jammed."
Doctor: "Well, that's easy. Waggle his tail."
Romana: "All right. I've tried everything else."
K9: "Thank you mistress. Repairs complete."

Like Monty Python's "Deja Vu" sketch, that bit of dialogue gets repeated over and over inbetween Episode 1 and 2 of Meglos, when the title character traps the TARDIS in a Chronic Hysteresis, which is a time loop. Whether or not you like hearing the same bits of dialogue and action over and over will determine whether one will like Meglos. However, there are some slow parts and not many memorable characters--save Deedrix, Zastor, and Lexa--that don't make this an outstanding story. So, as the Doctor says, "first things first, but not necessarily in that order."

The planet Tigella is ruled by the elderly Zastor, who has to mediate between two factions--the Savants, or the scientific caste with their white one-piece body suits and blonde hair, who use the unstable Dodecahedron as their power source and the salmon and black-robed Deons, who worship the Dodecahedron. This conflict between rational and religious-minded people is universal, those who demand proof and those who believe. The Deons have an advantage, in that they believe it came from the heavens, where the Savants think it came from somewhere, anywhere, but not the heavens. To fix the instability of the Dodecahedron, and to placate both sides, Zastor calls on the Doctor, who's in orbit nearby. He describes him as the man "who solves the insoluble by the strangest means. He sees the threads that join the universe together, and mends them when they break." In other words, he has the "maturity to respect many points of view."

That twenty-sided object is the cause of all the fuss in this story. As part of a peace treaty ending the war between Zolfa-Thura and Tigella, the Dodecahedron was taken to Tigella. Ten thousand years later, Meglos, the last Zolfa-Thuran, enlists the aid of General Grugger and the Gaztaks, which isn't the name of a cheesy rock band but a band of marauding mercenaries for hire, to get the Dodecahedron. Meglos, having intercepted Zastor's invitation to the Doctor, impersonates the Time Lord.

There are some interesting bits. General Grugger's hat and costume are akin to a Tartar chieftain. The concept of unstable body transfer was also explored in the last Star Trek episode "Turnabout Intruder", but since when did Captain Kirk start turning into a humanoid cactus? Tom Baker's cactus makeup is quite a sight and fright.

Who fans will recognize Jacqueline Hill (Lexa, the leader of the Deons) as one of the First Doctor's very first companions, Barbara Wright (1963-1964). This was Hill's last Who appearance, as she died in 1993.

"Not impossible. Merely beyond your comprehension," says Meglos. As for this story, "not unwatcheable--merely away from greatness." I will say it's the worst story of the 18th season, but not all that bad.

Like Monty Python's "Deja Vu" sketch, that bit of dialogue gets repeated over and over inbetween Episode 1 and 2 of Meglos, when the title character traps the TARDIS in a Chronic Hysteresis, which is aEoh dear, I think I'm in a time loop. Help!

Revenge of the cactus face!
in my opinion this is not one of the best of Tom Bakers as are any of the ones from his last season.

A cuctus like creature takes over the body of a human who then impersonates the doctor sounds like something blake edwards would be better at writing. It was nice to see jacqueline hill,who played barbara all those years ago in the begining, have a big part in this one, however the rather silly special effects (including some very bad CSO effects) make this one a bit hard to give more than 3 stars.

I also has some problems with the video as it flicked at times and the picture became 'washed out' but i wasn't sure if this was a problem with this copy or with the release in general, and it was not bad enough to make me spend the time and effort to get a replacement only to find out it that every video was like that, so no biggie there.

"That man can do anything! What a mind!"
This is one of the best from the latter Fourth Doctor era.

Meglos captures the essence of the mathematic-scientific theme so common to Tom Baker's last season and Peter Davison's first.

The culture of Tigella is divided between scientists and spiritualists. Neither knows true nature of the Dodecahedron, the powerful 20-sided orb that powers their civilization.

Meglos is a super-intelligent plant who can alter his shape at will. With a motley group of space pirates he goes in search of the Dodecahedron.

Those who liked Leisure Hive, Warrior's Gate, Logopolis, and Castrovalva will like Meglos. ... Read more

Reviews (24)

"That's a beautiful notion!"
"Horror of Fang Rock" is a wonderful example of what can be achieved on a shoestring budget. While Doctor Who's lack of funds mostly resulted in embarrassingly poor special effects, this story is a triumph of minimalism (OK, there are a few poorly realised scenes, but they're largely incidental). Set on the craggy Fang Rock and its lighthouse, the story consists of only a few sets, which work to effectively maintain a claustrophobic atmosphere and build a sense of siege. That is not the story's only strength. It is well written and acted. Tom Baker and Louise Jameson both excel themselves in their roles of the Doctor and Leela, while the supporting cast are mostly well portrayed. Colin Douglas's Reuben is perhaps a little too stereotypical of the crusty, veteran sea-dog, but not excessively so. The combination of characters could also lead to accusations of class cliches. The young keeper, Vince, and the seaman Harker are both working class men with big hearts, whereas the upper class trio of Lord Palmerdale, his secretary Adelaide and Colonel Skinsale, are all truly despicable individuals. (A truly interesting scene is when the Doctor announces that Skinsale's death was honourable, when it was anything but. It's a compassionate side to the Time Lord, who in a very small way re-writes history to protect a man from posthumous humiliation.) However, the characters don't just fit into boxes, and the class divisions seem feasible. Plotwise, the story remains taut and engaging. Suspense builds up through the story - the brief glimpses of the alien only serve to build this atmosphere - and, for once, the unveiling of the enemy does not disappoint and there is a satisfying conclusion. There is only one part to the story which demands a cry of "cop-out". When the Doctor announces they are all trapped on the island (after Skinsale destroys their only form of communication), he could easily have bundled everybody into the TARDIS and removed them from danger. It is just waiting there on the island; perhaps a plot device of making it inaccessible would have made this a bit more believable. However, that is the only true complaint I have with this story, and a small one at that. "Horror of Fang Rock" is an excellent production. Very watchable and highly recommended.

A gripping thriller.
The Doctor (Tom Baker version) and Leela arrive at a lighthouse which is receiving a mysterious visitation.

This is a well-written and tense story. The lighthouse provides an excellently isolated location and there are plenty of strong characters who become trapped together in claustrophobic surroundings. The electricity-shooting alien is nicely symbolic, an embodiment of the fear people had of the newly-introduced concept of electricity at the turn of the century, the era in which this adventure is set. A must-see.

One of my all-time favourite Who stories
I can remember watching this story very young actually, and it's one of the few that I can watch today and remember seeing back then (the rest seem to have gotten lost in a fog of memory). Besides that, it's one of my favourites because it's a great story during one of the best times in Doctor Who...Tom Baker as the Doctor and Louise Jameson as Leela, his companion.
Just the fact that the entire story takes place in a lighthouse was a stroke of brilliance. It's a perfect setting for this horror-laced story, brimming with tension and suspense a-plenty. The entire cast gives great performances and there are some classic Tom Baker moments: The survivors or a ruined ship take refuge and start to bicker amongst one another, and the Doctor is just sitting there amidst it, until he suddenly interrupts: "Just a moment! We haven't been introduced!" and then slumps back in his chair. Additionally, later on in the story, he returns to the survivors and says, in his usual maniacal fashion, "Gentlemen, this lighthouse is under attack and by morning we might all be dead. Now, who's interested?" Classic stuff, to be sure. Not to mention we finally see the nemeses of the Sontarans, the Rutans.
I would heavily advise this story to anybody looking for a primer in not only the Tom Baker era of Doctor Who, but Doctor Who in general. I've shown this as an introduction to several friends who were unfamiliar with the show and they've become fans as a result, so I suppose I must have chosen wisely! LOL

An Interesting Morality Tale
Tom Baker was blessed with some of the best Dr. Who scripts and this one, for me, remains one of the best and one of the most intriguing. Besides being a variation on 10 Little Indians as other reviwers have mentioned, the story is also an intriguing morality play. All the victims were guility of a kind of deadly sin. The lighthouse was populated people guilty of greed, ignorance, intolerance, etc. which ultimately costs those people their lives.

I can't think of another story that did similar.

Hitchcock-style suspence at its best.
The Doctor and Leela arrive at a lighthouse which, unknown to the keepers, has already received a visitor. Before long, a ship lost in the fog runs aground on the rocks and its survivors are marooned on the island. A creature with electrical powers is stalking the shadows. And, fittingly, it's at the dawn of the twentieth century, an era when there was fear concerning the invention of electricity. All in all, this is one of the most tense and suspenceful stories in the show's history. The isolated lighthouse, enshrouded in both legend and in fog, makes an ideal setting. The characters are all very well-thought-out, the dialogue is first-rate, the Doctor and Leela are just as they should be. Tom Baker is at his best here, his character shifting perfectly between brooding stranger and rolling-eyed madman. There is barely a dull moment. ... Read more

Reviews (18)

A MUST HAVE!
This story was written by Douglas Adams who also wrote the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and all of it's sequels. It is very humorous as well as intriguing. This is the second story to the six part Key To Time series, but it stands by itself perfectly. K-9 even gets into a fight with a robotic parrot. Oh, and the wound on Tom Baker's lip was inflicted by a dog previous to filming. I only mention that because when i first saw the video i thought it was a cold sore. END

Has anyone seen a video called The Pirate Planet?
The second story of the Key To Time series, The Pirate Planet, is a winner just like its predecessor, The Ribos Operation.

In the opening titles for every episode, the viewer will notice that the writer is Douglas Adams. Yes, it is THAT Douglas Adams, who was taken away from us this summer, so the viewer will know what to expect. The dialogue here is superb as a result, especially those of the Doctor, Pirate Captain, Romana, and Mr. Fibuli. Example: the Doctor while jetting from one end of a corridor to another via a linear induction corridor: "I'll never be cruel to an electron in a particle accelerator again!" And he makes an entrance on the bridge, with a rapid fire introduction delivered to Mr. Fibuli. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. I've heard what a wonderful chap you are. I see you've met my assistant Romana. Getting on like a house on fire, are we? What a splendid place you have here!"

Calufrax is the destination of the second segment of the Key, but somehow, the TARDIS lands on Zanak, a planet that somehow occupies the coordinates of Calufrax. The planet is ruled by the Captain, a big yelling bully of a pirate whose entire left side is mechanical, all due to when he crashed his vessel on Zanak long ago. But what exactly is he up to? The truth later becomes apparent, as he and Romana have "stumbled upon one of the most heinous crimes in the Galaxy."

There's a silly moment where the Doctor steals an aircar by tossing a bag of jellybabies on the hood of the aircar, distracting the guard with a trail of jellybabies, and then taking off, waving bye to the guard.

Tom Baker gets upstaged here as he did in The Ribos Operation, but only once. His attempts to contact the citizens of Zanak as to the whereabouts of the planet Calufrax come to naught, as they either ignore or run away from him as if he is deranged. "Excuse me, have any of you seen a planet called Calufrax? 14,000 kilometers wide, oblate spheroid?" Exasperated, he spreads his arms out and yells, "Has anyone seen a planet called Calufrax?" To add insult to injury, Romana succeeds in striking a conversation with a citizen of Zanak on her first try. However, he does burst into the house of Balaton and says, pop eyes and all, "Excuse me. Are you sure this planet is supposed to be here?"

Bruce Purchase is well-cast as the shouting Captain, and like Garron in Ribos, has a fair share of good lines. "Find him and destroy him, or by all the suns that blaze, I'll tear you apart... molecule for molecule." That is followed by a silly, insane giggle. He works best with his first mate, the timid and bookish Mr. Fibuli. "Excellent, Mr. Fibuli. Your death will be delayed." Fibuli says, "Oh, thank you again and again, sir. Your goodness confounds me." And his oaths: "By the left frontal lobe of the Sky Demon", "by the great parrot of Hades." Silly silly silly!

Mary Tamm shines again as Romana. When ordered to get into an air car by a guard, she says, "I'll take that as an invitation." She hands him her telescope, thanking him, and as she's getting in, asks, "Will you drive? I assume you know where we're going." All of this said in an unruffled, dignified, but casual manner. Now that's class! Her outfit consists of white slacks, heels, and blouse, over which she wears a pink tunic. And her hair, parted in the middle, is a wave of curls framing her classic features.

By the spleen of the Sky Demon, another shining story in the Doctor Who canon!

"They slammed him to the wall with good vibrations?"
This adventure, penned no less by Douglas Adams, is a zany, over the top romp. It has lots of inexplicable technobabble, machines and gadgets with absurdly long names and a blustering cyborg pirate Captain, complete with robot parrot. It's also lots of fun! With Douglas Adams you know to expect it to be completely over the top, and he certainly delivers! The second story in the Key to Time series has the Doctor, Romana and K9 arrive at the exact moment in space and time they are supposed to - but the wrong planet! The plot of the story is not really feasible sci-fi; many of the concepts are incomprehensible and sometimes downright silly. But the story is so enjoyable, who cares? Everyone looks as though they're having fun; some of the characters are plain and bland, but the Captain and Mr Fibuli are an excellent pairing. I also love the close-up on the Polyphase Avatron when K9 appears on the bridge's monitor! Despite its deliberate humour, "The Pirate Planet" has its serious moments. I don't think I've ever seen Tom Baker's Doctor so passionate when he confronts the Captain about the immorality of his actions in episode three. The story also has plenty of pace and an exciting, tension filled final episode. It's terrific!

This Douglas Adams script holds up well over time...
I love the Tom Baker Dr. Who, but not all episodes are equally good. This series is one of the better ones -- not unexpectedly, since Douglas Adams wrote it.

The plot involves a sinister Captain who brings prosperity to his people by doing something really evil -- and I won't tell you what it is for fear of giving away the plot.

The budget for special effects and sets for this series must have been about fifty pounds per episode (makes the original Star Trek series look slick in comparison) but for a true Dr. Who fan, the cheesiness of the sets only adds to the charm. This video has a classic laughably funny scene, with a ride in an "air car" that is obviously a cheaply constructed prop tilted to one side, with a blue back drop, and a fan blowing on the characters to imitate flight. But there are also some very witty lines, beautifully delivered by Tom Baker and others in the cast.

If you collect Dr. Who videos, this one is a "must have."

MR. FIBULI!!!!!!
You hear, "Mr. Fibuli!!!!" alot in this excellent Dr. Who adventure. Out of my vast collection of Dr. Who tapes that I own, this adventure has to be the most watched. This entire story is so well done and it is such a unique tale that you will want to watch it again and again. The story starts with the Doctor in search of the 2nd key to time, which takes him to the planet Calufrax. Calufrax is actually a planet this is just about to be consumed by the very evil Pirate Planet. The captain of the pirate planet and the evil queen Zansea move about the cosmos eating other planets for their minerals. (Our Earth eventually becomes one of their targets... YIKES!!!) Of course, this is completely unexceptable to the good Doctor and the ever lovely Romana. After landing on the Pirate Planet they quickly become involved in aiding the mentiads in overthrowing the evil captin and queen. This story has a lot of adventure and excitement. The story is very engrossing and the special effects are actually not to bad this time around. The acting is well done and you will fall in love with the captain, queen and the comical Mr. Fibuli as they race toward their inevitable destruction. I won't tell you how this ends but I will tell you that it is an amazing surprise! Definately get this episode for your collection and you, like me, will find yourself walking around your house yelling ... MR FIBULI!!!!!! MR. FIBULI!!!!! hehe. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

The very powerful & the very stupid have one thing in common
Coming right on the heels of THE DEADLY ASSASSIN, THE FACE OF EVIL shifts the series away from its earlier, "cozy" format, and in a pretty permanent sort of way. I often wondered why so few episodes dealt with the consequences of the Doctor's meddling in the affairs of other civilizations --this one takes the form of the Doctor confronting the spectacle of his own face carved into the side of a mountain on the scale of Mount Rushmore.

Originally titled "The Day that God Went Mad," this serial takes us into an unnamed planet in the distant future, where two tribal factions are locked in an eternal (and ultimately futile) struggle, even though neither side has ever seen its enemy. The inherent danger offered by organized religion is taken to task in a way few episodes before (or since) were up to challenging: as usual, the local God has a perfectly logical, scientific explanation, but there's no explaining this to his devoted followers, particularly the quick-thinking high priest.

The episode is of course noteworthy because it introduces Leela, as portrayed by Louise Jameson, who remains one of the most popular companions of one of the most popular Doctors. Tom Baker carries off another brilliant performance, cheerfully spouting nonsense even as crossbows and poison darts are pointed in his direction. The episode also has the advantage of being part of Season Thirteen, which is definitely Tom Baker's high point as the Doctor. There is stark contrast between the aggressively savage Sevateem and the quietly fanatical Tesh, and it is this contrast which leads the Doctor to the story's climax: the local God is a divided personality and must be made whole --and the Doctor himself is the original cause of the problem! Besides Ms. Jameson, my favorite character in this serial is Neeva (David Garfield), the High Priest who starts out as Xoanon's most devoted and vocal follower, but who proves to be quite the jaded cynic when all is said and done. Worth your time if you're a Tom Baker fan, but can be safely left off your Top Ten Greatest Doctor Who Stories Ever list.

Face This Video!
Finally! At long last comes this particular WHO adventure that shows how just Leela came on board with the Doctor. Really though, that's just a part of what is a pretty compelling sci-fi story that would have worked even if it wasn't a Dr. Who tale. When the Doctor crosses her path, Leela is a member of a tribe on an alien world, but is just as much of an outcast from her people as the Doctor is. Finally, we have a female "companion" that doesn't require constant rescuing...in fact, she actually pulls the Doctor out of danger more than once in this adventure. Strong, intelligent, and attractive, Leela makes a charming picture of the internal human struggle between knowledge and superstition. Tom Baker shines as the Doctor.

Yes, the Evil One does eat babies...jelly babies, that is!
When Leela, a young huntress of the Sevateem tribe first encounters the Doctor, she calls him "the evil one" to which the Doctor disarmingly says, "Well, nobody's perfect, but that's overstating it a little. Would you like a jelly baby?"

So begins his association with one of his most memorable companions, she of the chamois leather outfit, leaving her arms and legs bare, but don't mess with her, as she knows how to use a knife and Janis thorns, weapons that paralyze, then kill.

Leela has been banished from the Sevateem for saying that their god Xoanon, doesn't exist. However, that's not all going on with the tribe. There's a power struggle going between Neeva, the shaman who claims personal contact with Xoanon, and Calib, whose belief is tenuous, but wants nothing more than to have Neeva exposed as a fraud and charlatan. The Sevateem want to liberate Xoanon from the Tesh, their sworn enemies who live beyond the wall in a mountain, however, the Evil One's invisible energy creatures prevent anything from happening.

The Doctor and Leela go to the mountain, where he says, "I must have made quite an impression," for he sees his own face carved on the mountainside like Mount Rushmore. Trouble is, he can't remember when he first came to the planet. Also, the voice of Xoanon is his own! But does Xoanon have all his marbles? At one point, it says "At last us... you, me, us, we... at last I shall be free of us!" When the Doctor asks Xoanon who he is, Xoanon asks back "Don't I know?"

Paradise comes from the Avestan (ancient Persian) word meaning "walled-in enclosure." In that vein, Leela says of Xoanon, "he dwells within the black wall wherein lies paradise." This draws on the theme of an ideal place made safe from evil by a wall.

Many praiseworthy lines come in from the Doctor. "Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." and "The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views." And in an exchange regarding faith and logic, Neeva says "We start getting proof and we stop believing." Tomas replies, "With proof, you don't have to believe."

Louise Jameson's debut as Leela is impressive here and throughout the other eight stories she comes out in. Despite the Doctor telling her off for killing people, even in self-defense, it has to be said that she saves the Doctor's life that way in this story and in those to come. After all, she's using her huntress's instinct. I'd have her as my minder anyday.

Of the supporting actors, David Garfield (Neeva) stands out. His attempts to exorcise the Doctor, whom he thinks is the Evil One, is one of the kitschy moments of the series. And his battle hat is indeed fetching, as it's a cricket glove with some odds and ends attached.

The original title The Day God Went Mad is more apropos, as the Doctor has to deal with an omniscient computer with schizophrenia. However, it was changed to The Face To Evil to ward off any potential religious objections. The ideas are creative, but the production values, such as the Sevateem's forest and a spaceship's corridors aren't much to shout home about, and only a few characters (Leela, Neeva, Tomas) stand out.

You, me, us, we, at last I shall be free from us!
When Leela, a young huntress of the Sevateem tribe first encounters the Doctor, she calls him "the evil one" to which the Doctor disarmingly says, "Well, nobody's perfect, but that's overstating it a little. Would you like a jelly baby?" When they hear some ominous growls, he tells her "Do you have four friends with very bad colds or are we in danger?" She says, "They're your creatures." Has he been here before?

So begins his association with one of his most memorable companions, she of the chamois leather outfit, leaving her arms and legs bare, but don't mess with her, as she knows how to use a knife and Janis thorns, weapons that paralyze, then kill.

Leela has been banished from the Sevateem for saying that their god Xoanon, doesn't exist. However, that's not all going on with the tribe, whose gesture to ward evil coincidentally resembles the sequence for checking seals on a Starfall 7 spacesuit. There's a power struggle going between Neeva, the shaman who claims personal contact with Xoanon, and Calib, whose belief is tenuous, but wants nothing more than to have Neeva exposed as a fraud and charlatan. The Sevateem want to liberate Xoanon from the Tesh, their sworn enemies who live beyond the wall in a mountain, however, the Evil One's invisible energy creatures prevent anything from happening.

The Doctor and Leela go to the mountain, where he says, "I must have made quite an impression," for he sees his own face carved on the mountainside like Mount Rushmore. Trouble is, he can't remember when he first came to the planet. The two go inside the mountain to solve the mystery of Xoanon, whom they hear communicating to Neeva. And the voice of Xoanon is his own! But does Xoanon have all his marbles? At one point, it says "At last us... you, me, us, we... at last I shall be free from us!" When the Doctor asks Xoanon who he is, Xoanon asks back "Don't I know?"

Paradise comes from the Avestan (ancient Persian) word meaning "walled-in enclosure." In that vein, Leela says of Xoanon, "he dwells within the black wall wherein lies paradise." This draws on the theme of an ideal place made safe from evil by a wall.

Many praiseworthy lines come in from the Doctor. "Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." and "The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don't alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit their views." And in an exchange regarding faith and logic, Neeva says "We start getting proof and we stop believing." Tomas replies, "With proof, you don't have to believe."

Trivia: Leela's name came from Leila Khaled, a Palestinian woman who with her two comrades were the first hijackers and thus somewhat of a celebrity. Louise Jameson's debut as Leela is impressive here and throughout the other eight stories she comes out in. Despite the Doctor telling her off for killing people, even in self-defense, it has to be said that she saves the Doctor's life that way in this story and in those to come. After all, she's using her huntress's instinct. I'd have her as my minder anyday.

Of the supporting actors, David Garfield (Neeva) stands out. His attempts to exorcise the Doctor, whom he thinks is the Evil One, is one of the kitschy moments of the series. And his battle hat is indeed fetching, as it's a cricket glove with some odds and ends attached.

The original title The Day God Went Mad is more apropos, as the Doctor has to deal with an omniscient computer with schizophrenia. However, it was changed to The Face To Evil to ward off any potential religious objections. The ideas are creative, but the production values, such as the Sevateem's forest and a spaceship's corridors aren't much to shout home about, and only a few characters (Leela, Neeva, Tomas) stand out.

Then I saw my face and now I've got Leela
This story is another in the darker period of Doctor Who. Having jettisoned the increasingly Andy Pandy jump-suited Sarah Jane Smith before an apparently final battle with the Master, the Doctor foregoes his Presidency to return to roaming around the Galaxy.

The plot has been laid out by several reviewers before me and I will not travel that well trodden road any further. Suffice to say that the character of Leela clearly is intended to attract an older audience but at the same time, the darker stories required a much stronger character than the Sarah Jane Smith types in order for the plots to work. Leela is certainly that, a savage killer, brought up to kill or be killed, she is uneducated but not stupid. She has an instinct which saves them more than once and is yet very protective of the Doctor.

Part of the charm of this character was that she served as a role model for many other female actresses in British drama as an independent person, capable of holding her own with men.

The story is the first to acknowledge that time travel can have unintended future consequences which alters the future in a way never thought of. The two tribes are also symbolic of the way our modern society has developed into an environmental side as opposed to a scientific, technological side. The monster, not by accident, is the same as the monster in that classic sci-fi movie, whose name escapes me, but which is created through the scienytist's id when using alien machinery.

A very impressive story to have on video. ... Read more

Reviews (27)

One of the best Who episodes
The twin pack VHS features the short, Sontaran Experiment, only 2 episodes with too many questions left unanswered but lots of action, and the Genesis of the Daleks, a fascinating adult feature, well-written and superbly acted.
In the Genesis, we learn of the origin of the Daleks. The TImeLords snatch Dr. Who and his companions from a transmat beam (the timelord says that his race has not used such crude devices since the universe was half its present age [gives a clue of how old the timelord race is]) and takes them to Skaro, the home planet of the Daleks. THe timelords see a time when the Daleks will overrun the universe and they want Dr. to stop them or prevent them from starting.
Skaro is near the end of a 1000 year war between the Thuls and the Kaleds, the planet's surface is scarred, twisted and populated with Mutos, beings mutated by the war. The Kaleds created an Elite corp of scientists to bring an end to the war.
Enter Davros, a maniacal genuis, bent on creating the supreme being. Davros creates a new species of Kaleds and creates the Dalek to carry them. Warned by Dr. Who, the Kaled govt tries to stop Davros, only to have Davros betray them to the Thuls, who destroy them. Davros then turns the Daleks on the Thuls. The Daleks cry of exterminate.Exterminate still echoes in my mind.
i won't tell the ending but it is predictable and a little dissatisfying.

Davros is the most sinister villian in the Dr.Who collection, more than the Master. His single-mindediness pursuit of the perfect race is terrifying and admirable,too. The Kaled elite dressed as Nazis is a nice touch. It shows what can happen to a culture that becomes so twisted.
Watch the Sontaran experiment if you want BUT you have to watch the Genesis of the Daleks. It is Terrific.

What More could you ask for?
'Genesis of the Daleks' is an absolute classic, guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat! The Daleks are truly terrifying in this episode, and Davros is a brilliant character. This episode really does go in depth about what the Daleks are and where they come from and what they stand for. The main highlights of the episode are the Dalek invasion of the Thal city, the conspiracy scenes, The Doctor's hesitation over wiping out the Daleks and in doing so commiting Genocide, and the moral debate between Davros' followers about the morals of the Dalek project.

'The Sontaran Experiment' is a lot less deep and is just an action-romp, but it's pretty good with a strong atmosphere.

Both of these episodes are great viewing but are probably too violent and disturbing for younger viewers.

What the others didnt mention
Contrary to popular belief, the sontaran experiment was always a two parter. Going directly on from Ark in Space, so by extension it became a six part adventure. These two would have been better combined as the Genesis of the Daleks would have been with Revenge of the Cybermen. I noticed this after someone mentioned it to me. Styres mission to Earth was a bit pointless, but then it wouldnt have been too dramatic, now would it?. Exactly why does he need to lure a Gal-Sec mission to an EMPTY planet? Since they are planning to go through Earths Solar system and not the colony worlds. It isnt a gripe at all. I have always liked the single-minded Sontarans.

As for Genesis, like others have said, wall yourselves in your city and ignore the other guys. But of course I loved seeing Davros for the second time, I had seen Destiny of the Daleks first. I thought a great design idea to get Davros and his daleks even closer subtley for the viewers would have been to make the Daleks black and silver like his chair. And yes it could have lost the Muto subplot and the rocket subplot could have been tightened up to make it a four parter. But over-all I was thoroughly creeped out by Davros's ability to turn life and death into a simple dinner time discussion. "Yes I would do it, that power would set me up amongst the Gods!"

A must see for Daleks fans
The Sontaran Experiment is a snooze, which on its own would get one star from me. It's slow moving and illogical, although the bug-like machines that the Sontaran uses to capture humans are quite amusing.

The reason to get this particular tape is for the Daleks, who are my favorite baddies in the Doctor Who series, as silly as they are. Yes, they're slow and they can't walk up stairs. They have no opposable thumb or anything in the nature of one. They sound utterly and splendidly silly. If you've never heard a Dalek say "you will be exterminated" you won't know why merely typing the phrase makes me giggle, and these probably won't be the episodes that are going to make you fall in love with them. But for Dalek fans, the six episodes that make up the Genesis of the Daleks are a must have. They tell us why and how Davros created the Daleks, and give the Doctor the opportunity to stop them. The action is decent and even though the Nazi analogy gets hammered over our heads, it's a lesson worth repeating.

excellent all the way
Genisis of the Daleks is the gem here, but Sontaran Experiment is very good too(especially Kevin Linsday) Genisis starts a chain of events that leads in to Destiny of the Daleks which is also interesting but only if you watched Genisis first. The delaupidated city in Destiny is in full form here in Genisis with shining black metal corridors, science labs, and the Dalek incubator and all the other stuff a Kaled city should have(mainly people). Davros is introduced as the Creator of the Daleks, though William Hartnel referred to them as "Dals" and "Kaled" is inconsistant with this. Dispite this minor annoyance(which until I watched Hartnel I didn't notice) Genisis is one of the Best Dr. Who stories ever told! On par with Pertwee's Inferno, Troughton's Tome of the Cybermen, and Hartnell's The Daleks. I strongly disagree with those that say that Destiny of the Daleks is not a good story too becasue it was! Destiny was post holicost, Genisis was durning the holicost. Resurrection was just plain bad(you can disagree if you want to, I don't mind!)If you want Tom Baker get this first! ... Read more

Amazon.com

In "The Horns of Nimon," the declining Skonnon Empire's quest for the technology to launch a second galactic empire rests upon tributes from the people of the planet Aneth. The fourth doctor (Tom Baker) and Romana (Lalla Ward), encounter a starship full of such young people, including Janet (Blue Peter) Ellis, on their way to be sacrificed to the bull-like alien Nimon. While Romana becomes trapped in the Nimon's ever-changing labyrinth, the doctor struggles to repair the Tardis and finds that someone, or something, is engineering an artificial black hole.

Doctor Who had previously explored the Cretan legend of the Minotaur in "The Time Monster" (1972), and here pays homage to the story without attempting to incorporate it into the Who mythos. Tom Baker is in good form and script editor Douglas Adams keeps the story tight without allowing the humor to take over. The best performance comes from Lalla Ward, fully at home as Romana and a commanding presence in her own right. The set and costume design are notable except for the Nimon itself, which is rather laughable. This story is an entertaining if ultimately unexceptional adventure for the good Doctor. --Gary S. Dalkin ... Read more

Reviews (3)

"The program will continue..."
"The Horns of Nimon" is really a mixed-bag. Tom Baker and Graham Crowden play it for laughs, while Lalla Ward plays it dead straight. The serial has a real cheap feel to the production. The Nimons themselves are laughable when first seen. They look like giant cockroaches with lanky legs. Some of the sets are convincing, while others are not. Malcolm Terris as the co-pilot is wonderfully OTT. The secens where Romana lands on Crinoth are very effective. But, the supporting cast, especially the actors with no lines, lazilly sleepwalk through most of their staging. "The Horns of Nimon" might arguably be the worst of Season 17, but with an open mind and a few beers, this adventure might make even the most discriminating Who fan look twice.

A good but not Great Journey Of Life
En route to repairing the TARDIS, the Doctor and Romana crash with a rundown Skonnon battlecruiser bringing some unhappy Anethan youths in yellow karate outfits as tributes to the Nimon, the god of the Skonnos, a military dictatorship revelling in black fascist regalia. The leader of the Anethans is a youth named Seth, whom one of the girls, Teka, believes is a hero who will defeat the Nimon. Teka's devotion is a bit too much, as she expects too much of him.

The leader of Skonnos, Soldeed, is eagerly awaiting the delivery of the youths, as it is the last payment to the Nimon, who have promised the Skonnons technology that will give rise to the second Skonnon Empire. "He speaks of Skonnos rising from its own ashes with wings of fire!" proclaims Soldeed. Indeed, Soldeed fawns and scrapes before the black, red-eyed bull-like Nimon, who seem to have read some Egyptian hieroglyphs for their loin cloths. He isn't bothered that all the Nimon want are youths to be sacrificed. "I play the Nimon on a long string," he says, and regarding an exchange of favours, "if there is an imbalance, make sure it's in your favour." However, Soldeed doesn't realize the full extent of the Nimon's plans, nor what the Great Journey Of Life" is about.

Tom Baker has two funny lines at the expense of the despicable pistol-wielding co-pilot of the battlecruiser. "Have you noticed how people's intellectual curiosity declines sharply the moment they start waving guns?" And when the co-pilot won't allow the Doctor to go to the hold to help with some engine trouble, he says, "Why don't you give me the gun and then I can keep an eye on myself so I don't get into funny business?" When the Nimon tell the Doctor, "Later, you will be tortured, questioned, and killed." the Doctor replies, "Well, I hope you get it in the right order." And I was very bemused when the Doctor tells Soldeed that somebody is "digging a black hole on your doorstep."

Lalla Ward (Romana) has a stylish red overcoat and spends most of her time with the Anethans, playing a Doctor-ish role to them, but does so straight.

However, this is the second time Greek mythology has been tweaked. Think of Seth of the Anethans confronting the Nimon in the Power Complex. Now, think of Theseus of the Athenians confronting the Minotaur in the labryinth. And if trying to correlate Soldeed with Daedalus is a stretch, spell Soldeed's name backwards. Kind of, sort of, yeah? And the Doctor's remembering to have Seth's ship painted white for the welcome party given by his father is a reference to Theseus forgetting to change the sails of his ships from black to white, which had tragic consequences for Aegeus, or as the Doctor says in memory of his involvement with Theseus, "a whole of hoohah."

Graham Crowden is best known as Tom in the Waiting For God TV series, and his OTT portrayal of Soldeed is akin to his future WFG role. He does look funny in the heavy brown beard and pop eyes, and that plummy voice of his may be a bit much. However, his singsong calling of "Lord Nimon" is a bit of pop culture kitsch.

Due to the industrial strike that took place during Shada, The Horns Of Nimon was the last completed story of Season 17, which meant the end of two things. One was the end of Graham Williams as producer for the show and Douglas Adams as script editor, which meant no more silly jokes and lines, such as the loud bangs and silly noises the TARDIS console makes in Episode 3. The other was the blue time tunnel opening titles that had made its debut from the last Jon Pertwee season (1974). Not exactly a great story to end the season, but not bad either.

the most UNDERrated show on Television Period
Although I can't really rate it five stars, I can rate it four. This is a good adventure that probably few love, many hate, and most don't even know about(even so-called whoivans don't know it). It has an excellent cast of character actors and cool sets and back drops. The story is about a race of bull/buffalo-like humanoids who use black holes to traverse from place to place. What I like is not it's "realism" but its fun factor and humor. The atmosphere is farout as well. I first watched this as a kid and loved it all the way through highschool it was broadcast many times then fatefully, Doctor Who was banned from PBS in the US 1988 Feburary 27th and I never got to see it again until now. ... Read more

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In "The Invisible Enemy", the first adventure of Doctor Who's 15th season, the enemy is all too visible and looks like a giant shrimp. The Doctor (Tom Baker) and Leela (Louise Jameson) receive a Mayday signal, but before they can go to the rescue the Time Lord is infected by the same intelligent virus which has already taken over the crew of a base on Titan. Leela gets the Doctor to a nearby medical station and--while the satellite comes under attack by agents of the Nucleus--miniaturized clones of the Doctor and Leela venture into the Time Lord's brain. The plot thereby combines the classic science fiction tension-builder of a tiny group of humans battling a superior alien foe with the premise of the 1966 film Fantastic Voyage. Inevitably the virus escapes into the full-sized world in a desperate bid to bring about "The Swarming."

This saga boasts copious but variable special effects and laughable makeup; it also marks the debut of irritating robot dog K-9. The Doctor had already been miniaturized in "Planet of the Giants" (1964) and "Carnival of Monsters" (1972). While this 1977 story gets progressively more outlandish and silly, somehow it remains surprisingly gripping to the end. --Gary S. Dalkin ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Fun is one word that springs to mind!
You know someone once said that Resurrection of the Daleks cheapened Dr.Who because it was a shoot-em-up that was trying to be like a Rambo film! Well, that story at least had quality production and a scene where the Doctor agonized over having to use guns and ultimately, a down beat ending where he pondered his violent life style and thought he needed to consider "changing his ways".
This Tom Baker yarn features a total of ten characters falling under the control of an alien intelligence, at one point or another, (including the Doctor and K-9)endless shoot-em-ups, and a body count of around fifteen different characters, (including clones of the Doctor and Leela)and features the Doctor and K-9 both trying to shoot Leela while under alien control, leela stabbing one man in the neck and knifing another in the back, people being shot, eaten by anti-bodies, dissolved, the stabbing of Leela's clone by the clone of Lowe (Michael Sheard) and the total destruction of an alien species in the explosion of a planet which the Doctor uses a gun to set off after he tries to use a blaster to shoot the nuclear on their first encounter. One guy even gets shot in the bakc by K-9 and the Doctor grabs him and shoves him into the alien incubation chamber where the monsters are hatching! And as genocide is committed the Doctor laughs and makes jokes and tells Professor Marius what a pleasure it's been! Huh?
Well, frankly, I find the cavalier and frivolous attitude of the script writers to the trigger-happy blood bath of this story far more disturbing than anything in the later years! This story has brightly lit sets and a pantomimish monster (like a massive Yabby or Lobster!) which is worse than the production values than Davison's Warrior's of the Deep, but even that story had the common deacency to end with a horrified and sickened Doctor decaring, "there should have been another way." Leela doesn't walk out saying "it's stopped being fun" either, she seems to think it's great fun, slaughtering people like cattle!
Still, the whole thing is so badly acted and unconvincingly done and has the look of a cut price pantomime, so it's almost impossible to take any of it seriously. How can you get upset by a story where the violence is totally unbelievable. Leela stabs a man in the jugular at one point and there's not even a spot of blood to wipe off the blade! Best just to let Tom Baker laugh it all off and we can take it as Dr.Who's answer to Star Wars. But one thing puzzles me: if Dr.Who really wanted to do a Star Wars type story with space stations and ray gun battles, surely they should aim to lift their game? This is Who that's been phoned in by people who could hardly be bothered. The acting feels so unrehearsed and the direction is so careless I felt it hard to believe they took more than a single lazy afternoon to cobble this thing together. Anyway, I guess the way to look at this, is to forget the content and not take it even remotely seriously. As a silly, camp bit of space adventure, it's a fun but forgettable Tom Baker story. And only Baker can walk into the side of door and go "clunk" and casually look round and say, "that's odd", like it was nothing! Silly, but entertaining! In a way, typical late seventies Dr.Who!

Contact has been made!
It's the year 5000, the year of the Great Breakout. The Doctor is fighting for his mind in this story. After answering a mayday from Titan Base, inbetween Jupiter and Saturn, the Doctor comes across some personnel who are infected with a virus. One can tell due to the fuzzy gray and white around their eyes and forehead, and the mechanical voice they speak. Whenever someone is infected, that person utters, "Contact has been made!" The Doctor too is infected... but not Leela. Why not me, she wonders? Is it due to her being all instinct and intuition? Indeed, her sensing something evil in the beginning of the story is true to her hunting instincts. That's nothing compared to the fact that due to the Doctor's intelligence, his mind is ideal serving as the host of the Nucleus of the virus.

The Doctor and Leela go to the Center for Alien Biomorphology on Asteroid K067, where the former undergoes treatment by the station head, Professor Marius, who happens to have a robot dog named K9, a personal database as well as a good friend.

The highlight of this story is where miniaturized clones of the Doctor and Leela are injected into the Doctor's brain, which is a very colourful impressive set. "I've never been in anybody's head before," says Leela 2. They encounter phagocytes, passing thoughts, and electrochemical signals. However, as many viewers have pointed out, the clones should've been naked instead of being reproduced with clothes.

This is the debut story of K9 Mark I, the robot dog that accompanies the Doctor up to The Invasion Of Time, before his twin K9 Mark II, picks up for another two seasons. His offensive nose photon gun is put to good effect. However, in the scene where he shoots a part of a wall as a defensive barrier, one can clearly see the pieces has been precut. And the old white control room is seen once again for the first time since Pyramids Of Mars (1975).

An interesting piece of Earth history has been developed in the Who mythos. The Great Breakout is where humans are colonizing asteroids. "The asteroid belts are teeming with them. New frontiersmen, pioneers, waiting to spread across the galaxy like a tidal wave, or a disease." When Leela protests, he kindly explains that he likes humans, "but when they get together, other lifeforms sometimes suffer." The theme is later pursued when the Nucleus tells the Doctor of its purpose and justification for its existence: "the rught to survive, multiply, perpetuate. We are all predators, Doctor. We kill, we devour, to live... survival is all, you agree?"

One interesting observation is the English used on the Bi-Al Foundation. It's clearly a phonetic kind, e.g. Isolayshun Ward, Shutle Entry, Egsit... Oh dear, how the human race has fallen!

Michael Sheard (Lowe) not only appeared in four other Who's--The Mind Of Evil (1971), Pyramids Of Mars (1975), Castrovalva (1982), and Remembrance Of The Daleks (1988), but is best known as Admiral Ozzel in The Empire Strikes Back. And Kenneth Waller (Hedges), briefly seen, is best known as Old Mr. Grace in the 1981 season of Are You Being Served?

The second story of Season 14 is a good one overall, with some great spaceship models and the base on the Titan moon, and of course the asteroid.

"Contact has been made..."
This is an excellent episode from the Fourth Doctor's middle period.

It is the first episode to feature K-9, the Doctor's robotic canine computer.

A microscopic swarm of organisms has discovered a way to take over the bodies of humans they inhabit, and now the Nucleus of the Swarm is determined to control both the microcosm and the macrocosm.

Those who liked Underworld, Invasion of Time, Sontaran Experiment, and the Mutants will enjoy Invisible Enemy. ... Read more

Description

The newly regenerated Romana and the Doctor land on an unidentified planet to investigate evidence of drilling deep underground. ... Read more

Reviews (17)

Read my review or YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!!!!
This episode is one of my favorite Dalek adventures. The story features our favorite manic evil doer "Davros." Buried in the bottom of the bunker on Scarro, Davros waits in a state of hibernation as the Daleks, who are losing a war to another robot race called the Mavelins, anxiously dig out their infamous creator. You see, the Daleks cannot win their war against the Mavelins because both robotic races are using logic against each other and therefor no one can gain an advantage over the other. The Daleks think that only their original creator can aid them in defeating the Mavelins in this very costly war. The Doctor and Romana (who, by the way marries the doctor in real life) the blonde haired version, land on Scarro but forget what this planet was all about until they discover their first Dalek. It isnt long before the Mavelins, who also have landed on Scarro, meet up with the Doctor and together they try to determine what is going on at the deserted bunker that would bring so many Daleks back. The Doctor and the Mavelins quickly learn that the Daleks are attempting to locate Davros and begin to search for him themselves. Fortunately, the Doctor finds Davros first while poor Romana falls captive to the Daleks. The race is now on for either side to gain an advantage over the other. Davros, for the Daleks and the Doctor for the Mavelins. The Doctor quickly learns the Mavelins are not entirely as innocent and trustable as they want to appear and the Doctor has to quickly find a way out of this latest predictament.

This is another keep episode if you enjoy Tom Baker and the Dalek themes. Actually, it is one of the better episodes. Please add this exciting story to you collection and you will find yourself watching it again and again. For those of you that refuse to heed my review.... well, you must be EXTERMINATED! EXTERMINATED! EXTERMINATED! He he he.

Very original and entertaining Dalek story
The Doctor and his newly regenerated companion Romana have landed on the planet Skaro and get caught in the crossfire of a battle between the Daleks and a race of robots called the Movellans. Written by the Dalek's creator Terry Nation, and The Doctor being played by the talented Tom Baker makes this one of the best Dalek episodes ever. It contains a reasonable amount of action and has a very creative plot. The Daleks look very old and weatherbeaten, and the Davros costume has seen better years, but this doesn't let the story down too much and most Doctor Who fans should ignore this downfall.

Great Daleks episode!
I can't figure out why this isn't a more popular episode. It moves much more quickly than a lot of other Doctor Who adventures, it features Romana, who unlike a lot of Doctor companions had a brain and an active role in the Doctor's adventures and, in fact, this is the first series in which Lala Ward (the princess from the Androids of Tara episode in the Key to Time series) plays Romana.

The Doctor and Romana find themselves on Skaros, the Daleks' home planet. Discovering significant seismic activity, they discover that the Daleks have enslaved a group of humans whom they are forcing to engage in mining activity for a purpose which the Doctor and Romana must ferret out. At the same time, another race, the wonderful Molvians (who always remind me of Rick James in full-on Superfreak mode), befriend the Doctor and Romana but turn out to have their own agenda.

The Daleks are great in this episode. Not a lot of chatter, just a lot of typical Dalek bluster -- "seek, locate, exterminate," etc. Not to mention the glorious return of the megamaniacal Davros, creator of the Daleks. This is one of the more action-oriented, straight-forward Doctor Who episodes and comes across as a lot less dated than even some of the later episodes. Not as humorous as many Tom Baker episodes once it gets going (if you're looking for humor and cheese, check out The Pirate Planet), but great action and characters. Highly recommended.

Enjoyable quasi-sequel to Genesis Of The Daleks
The Doctor and a regenerated Romana land on "not the most inviting planet," but the Doctor feels that he's been here before. Upon examining the ruins of a city, he and Romana see a ship shaped like an inverted pyramid corkscrew its way into the ground, are assaulted by seismic tremors, and subterranean explosions, one of which causes a pillar to fall on the Doctor.
Romana goes for help but an explosion traps the TARDIS. Before long, she is captured by the Daleks in a moment that mimics the cliffhanger to Episode 1 of the first Daleks story.

The Doctor finds some allies, the Movellans, a race of dark-skinned people with silver dreadlocks, white one-piece suits, and cone-shaped laser guns. They are calm, orderly, efficient, and extremely strong, as they lifted the pillar from the Doctor (offscreen). They are on an intelligence mission to find out what the Daleks are up to. A trip to the old Kaled city reveals the answers. However, when a Movellan is exterminated by a Dalek, why isn't the Doctor allowed to examine his body, apart from a Movellan code of honor?

Goofs: The Daleks are actually half-organic, but they are constantly referred to as robots here. Another is Commander Sharrel in Episode 4. During the struggle with Romana, it's clear that he isn't played by Peter Straker. And the Doctor tells the Daleks to "spack off" instead of "back off."

This is kind of a sequel to Genesis Of The Daleks, as it involves Davros, but it might actually succeed Planet Of The Daleks. With the radiation count on Skaro strong, there might have been a final nuclear war between the Daleks and Thals where the Thals were the runners up.

The concept of portraying the Movellans with African actors is interesting, rather than having the "token blackEperformer. There are competent performances by the three lead Movellans, but note that they are all light-skinned. There are some darker-skinned Movellans, but they have non-speaking parts.

The name of the script editor--Douglas Adams, hence the silliness of dialogue in some areas. The scene where Romana tries on several bodies before reappearing in a duplicate of the Doctor's costume is definitely his trademark. And the Doctor has a cheap shot at a Dalek's expense as he escapes up a shaft. "If you're supposed to be the superior creatures of the universe, why don't you climb up after us? Bye bye!" He ducks as the Dalek fires up at him. And a Dalek grates: "Seek, locate, exterminate!E Hmm, that rhymes. Why not do a dance remix? I'm sure it'll debut at #1 on the Skaro pop charts.

Tony Osoba (the Movellan Lan) later played Kracauer in the Who story Dragonfire. Peter Straker (Sharrel) and Suzanne Daniel (Agella) effectively play the calm Movellans. David Gooderson has a good try as Davros, but Michael Wisher played him better hand down. And Lalla Ward is near-perfect in her first go at Romana, good-natured, logical, but more sensible, a compliment to the goofy Doctor.

OK, so the Daleks are made fun of here as repetitive killing machines wrapped in cold logic, but goofs aside, it's enjoyable. The Movellans are realized so perfectly it's a pity they didn't make another appearance.

Middling Dalerk story
In this serial, the Dr. and Romana journey are on the run from the evil Black Guardian and touchdown on the radioactive ruin of a war-torn world. (Hoping to elude the Black Guardian for frustrating his plans to acquire the Key to Time in the previous season, the Doctor adds a randomizer to the TARDIS's navigation computer - if the TARDIS's navigation is even more unreliable than usual, the Doctor figures he'll be safe). Unfortunately, the Doctor soon learns that his destination is Skaro, the birthplace of the implacable Daleks. Though long abandoned as uninhabitable even to the Daleks (who have evolved over centuries of prolonged exposure to radiation into shapeless, emotionless and ruthless blobs inhabiting machines looking like oversized garbage cans) something has brought the mechanized conquerors back to their birthplace. Escaping the Daleks, the Doctor finds another race has come to Skaro - the Movellans. Apparently human, but otherwise as cold and calculating as the Daleks, the Movellans have been locked into a massive cold war with the Daleks - their massive battle fleets poised for battle, but too evenly matched for one to prevail. Hoping to break the interstellar impasse, the Daleks have come to Skaro in search of their creator, the evil Kaled scientist Davros. The scientist, thought killed in "Genesis of the Daleks" (1975) was only placed in suspended animation, and remains alive if trapped in Skaro's ruins, waiting until he can awaken and take control of his creations.

Not even the Daleks can enliven this outing. The Daleks, ruthless and shapeless (and never seen) beings, have terrorized the galaxy with their efforts of conquest for untold of generations (since 1963 on earth, anyway) but this story is one more sign that the producers wanted to make a clean break from them as well as the Doctor's other frequent foes. (Cybermen appeared in Tom Baker's first season, and wouldn't put in an encore until "Earthshock" in the Peter Davidson years; The Master made two appearances in Baker's tenure). The Movellans aren't very interesting by themselves and seem invented only to make sure the Daleks have a real enemy to fight with. (The Dalek-Movellan war is hinted in the Davidson-era sequel "Resurrection of the Daleks", but the Movellans themselves don't appear.) Davros appears as outmaneuvered by the Daleks as before, and the Daleks, who hadn't put in an appearance since "Genesis", seem as creaky as ever. Adding to the sloppiness is the slapdash way in which Lalla Ward replaced Mary Tamm as Romana. As a timelord, Romana can regenerate and change her appearance; while the writers can normally think up inventive and agonizing reasons to explain the main character's regeneration, Romana's regeneration seems purposeless and seamless - an afterthought. If you want some vintage Who (I guess it's all vintage by now) get Baker's early years or his last season, especially "Genesis", a better story. ... Read more

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The 1979 Doctor Who adventure "The Creature from the Pit" finds Tom Baker's fourth Doctor in decidedly tongue-in-cheek mode on the planet Cloris, a world where metal is in such short supply its possession means power, and where a very large green alien is annoyed at being kept prisoner in a pit. As so often happens, the Doctor gets caught between two feuding parties, here the power-crazed Lady Adrasta (Myra Frances) and her court, and a bunch of Pythonesque bandits led by John Bryans. This motley crew reveal the influence of script editor Douglas Adams, while more fun is to be had from Baker's interaction with the astrologer Organon, played by Geoffrey "Catweazle" Bayldon in a role that recalls Adams' Slartibartfast from The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

At four episodes a thin story is over-stretched, the finale seems tacked on, and the shoddy creature effects are more remarkably phallic than anything in the same year's theatrical release, Alien. On the plus side, Lalla Ward in her third story grows nicely into her role as Romana, David Brierley takes over from John Leeson as the voice of robot dog K-9, and the set design and costumes are well up to the show's late-'70s high standards. Not a patch on the immediately preceding "City of Death," but an entertaining Whovian pantomime nonetheless. --Gary S. Dalkin ... Read more

Reviews (2)

We call it the Pit
To which the Doctor responds to the despotic Lady Adrasta of the planet Chloris, "Ah, you have such a way with words." The pit refers to an opening where people who displease Adrasta, perceived incompetents, are thrown down and meet their fate to a horrible monster.

The Doctor and Romana respond to a distress call on Chloris, where they are caught up in Lady Adrasta's dictatorial ways. On Chloris, metal is needed to contain the increasingly fecund jungle. Adrasta has the monopoly on metal--she owns the only mine, and that is the source of her power. She also employs the service of the Huntsman and his band of Wolf Weeds, which resemble green tumbleweeds. However, there are some rebels under Torvin, former miners, who are staging ambushes to steal anything metal.

The Doctor meets Organon, Adrasta's former astrologer, a bearded talkative soul who introduces himself thus: "astrologer extraordinaire, seer to princes and emperors. The future foretold, the past explained, the present apologized for." Together in the pit, they discover the nature of the title creature, which is huge and glows an eerie green colour.

Myra Frances plays Adrasta as a cruel despot--she even slaps Romana in one scene! Eileen Way, who is Karela, Adrasta's vizier, appeared in the very first Doctor Who story as the Old Mother. Karela is indeed someone just as ambitious and cruel as her mistress. Geoffrey Bayldon is good as the chatty but clearly sign-obsessed Organon. However, John Bryans plays Torvin as a hammy East London Jew, complete with accents and bushy beard: "My beautiful boys," he calls his subordinates, who are just as hirsute and bearded as he.

The Doctor has a funny line when he asks Adrasta to spare Doran, a court engineer-scientist who displeased her: "He may be an idiot, but he is a conscientious idiot, and engineers are hard to come by."

Romana's aristocratic bearing is apparent when she is captured by Torvin and his rebels. She is hardly scared when they threaten to kill her. Indeed, she keeps calm until K9 comes along, and then walks off. Dressed in her white robe, it's no wonder, as Lalla Ward's full name is Lady Sarah Ward, who is the daughter of Lord Bangor (Edward Ward). Ward really plays it straight here.

Some of Douglas Adams' silly humour is apparent in the story following the classic The City Of Death. One of the funniest moments involves the Doctor who's clinging along the side of the pit and is reading a book on mountain climbing, only to find out the book is in Tibetan. He then pulls out a book, Teach Yourself Tibetan. Unfortunately, it's established in other stories that the Doctor already knows Tibetan, so either the book is highly technical or this was just a scene done for laughs. And when going through some of the Doctor's old junk, Romana asks him if he really needs the jawbone of an a**, to which the Doctor retorts, "Don't be a philistine." That's a biblical joke, for those who don't get it.

Not a bad story, but seeing as how this came after the top-rated City Of Death, something of a comedown.

"And with her, die the dark ages for this planet..."
Landing on the planet Chloris, the Doctor and Romana discover a giant egg shell-like structure in the middle of an overgrown forest. They later find out that the planet Chloris is low on metal and has an over abundance of foliage, and the completely insane and greedy Lady Adrasta has a hidden agenda and a hidden horror trapped in a pit! The Creature From the Pit is another silly installment from Season 17, where humor and sillieness is rampant, and production values have dropped. But apart from Erato himself, the production of this underrated serial is very good. The forests scenes are very well realised on film. Tom Baker excells in one of his funniest outings. Line after line after line! Geoffrey Balydon as Organon, Court Astrologer, is another highlight in an amusing role. And David Brierley filling this season as the voice of K-9 gives him some humor, as well. Though, Tom Baker's communication with Erato for the first time is very phallic indeed! There's a reason why there's so much sillieness. David Fisher's scripts are filled with great Tom humor and Douglas Adams' script editing gives it that final absurdity. Though most discriminating Who fans might not give this serial the time of day, it is surprisingly enjoyable. Especially with a few bottles of beer! ... Read more

Description

The Doctor, Harry and Sarah accidentally land on a space wheel where survivors from Earth lie in cryogenic suspension waiting to begin a new life. ... Read more

Reviews (42)

Classic sci-fi TV survives because of excellent scripting...
A great segment from TV's longest running sci-fi series. Due to lack of budget these episodes of Tom Baker's second story have the typical cheesy effects and limited set designs, however the tight script and fascinating premise will keep any true sci-fi fan riveted. Note how this 1974 TV show had similar aspects to 1979's ALIEN movie by Ridley Scott (Insects in space that germinate in the human form aboard a craft of cryogenic sleepers resulting in the aliens being destroyed aboard an escape craft). Coincidence? Anyway you slice it, the gorey deaths, cool rubbery aliens, cliff hangers, snazzy dialogue and glimpses of future cultures keep the eyes watching and the mind whirling. This is a must for any Doctor Who fan's collection.

Excellent Tom Baker Episode
The second of Tom Baker's many episodes as the Fourth Doctor, the Ark in Space is an excellent example of a well-written and well-executed Doctor Who story.

The basic plot: the TARDIS materializes on a space station soon found to be filled with human beings in suspended animation. The Doctor quickly surmises that the station and its contents represent the whole of the human race and its knowledge, preserved to weather some terrible catastrophe. Due to sabotage, the station's inhabitants have overslept by many thousand years.

The sabotage was carried out by one of the Wyrrn, a race of space-dwelling giant insects who visit planets only to reproduce. The Wyrrn have decided to use the last humans as incubators for their young, and the Doctor, long-time favorite companion Sarah, and the reluctant Harry must prevent the Wyrrn from wiping out all humankind.

Whereas many episodes degenerated into camp (though at times very successfully), the Ark in Space does an excellent job at remaining true to its science fiction roots. The episode does still offer plenty of wit as only Tom Baker could deliver it, yet it never lets the humor dominate the story. The plot is tightly-done without side trips and tangents; the Doctor and crew are concerned with the Wyrrn and saving humanity, and that is the task they take on and accomplish.

The special effects (or defects) are suitably cheesily done as befitting the Dr. Who franchise, including the use og green bubble-wrap to create monsters. But that's part of the charm of the series, and a point in Ark in Space's favor that the bad effects didn't lead to pure camp.

The DVD includes commentary (albeit somewhat disjointed due to the fact of its recording over twenty years after the airing of the actual episode); said commentary is interesting and gives a look at those who created the series. The other features of the disc are decent but not spectacular on the whole.

I highly recommend this episode for any fan of Dr. Who.

beginning of an amazing era...
After the Tom Baker intro story, "The Giant Robot", "The Ark in Space" really cemented Tom Baker in the role of the Doctor and was re-written by Robert Holmes who had become the script editor for the next three seasons under the command of Phillip Hinchcliffe. This was the beginning of the three most popular and well crafted seasons of Doctor Who for most fans and the gothic horror style of the next three seasons raise the show to a popularity never before seen in many many countries. This mystery in space lets us get to know Bakers Doctor and we get better acquainted with Sarah Jane Smith and Harry Sullivan as well. Look for the stirring, inspired speech the Doctor makes about mankind, just one of the many treats in this fun adventure.

"DOCTOR WHO" - "ALIEN" STYLE!
"The Ark in Space," the second "Doctor Who" adventure starring Tom Baker, in an exciting tale of aliens using humans to live, an adventure preceding "Alien" by four years. It has all the humour, excitement and cheezy visual effects and costumes that make "Doctor Who" the cult classic that it is! The DVD offers very good special features, including an amusing commentary track with Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and producer Philip Hinchcliffe. Any fan of "Doctor Who" will want this adventure in their DVD collection! Prorgram/DVD Grade: A+

An undisputed classic.
"The Ark in Space" is an excellent, spellbinding tale from Doctor Who's gothic Hinchcliffe era, set on a spaceship many thousands of years in our future. It's also the first really great story to feature the wonderful Tom Baker in the title role, and is, for me at least, a better introduction to his time on Doctor Who than his own debut story, "Robot".

Thousands of years have passed since the present day, and ecological disasters have forced humanity to go into hibernation. While civilization crumbled and decayed on the surface of our world, out in orbit around it was constructed a safe haven for the slumbering human race. With the selected few meant to carry on the species in suspended animation, they were helpless to do anything when something else decided to make its own nest there too ... The Doctor arrives just as that something is beginning to reawaken, and is about to become a threat to the sleeping humans.

"The Ark in Space" would have been dubbed an "Alien" clone had it come out a few years later: while it was safely produced in 1974, its story has a lot of things in common with the Ridley Scott film. Luckily for this story, "Alien" didn't have the Doctor, but that's not the only reason to watch it now. Sure, this doesn't look as good ... the low budget is obviously apparant in most every scene you'll see here, but rather than make this a bad production it actually has the opposite effect. The production crew have done a splendid job here, constructing a sterile and utterly believeable environment for the story to take place in, from the white, empty corridors of the space station to the sleeping chambers where the humans reside. Apparantly they hadn't had a lot of material to work with, but with what they had they produced some real miracles. It's wonderful to look at. The aliens in this story, the Wirrn, are a wonderful as well... when I first caught a glance at them, I thought they looked terribly cheap, but that feeling went away after I'd really studied them. They're excellently insectoid ... even the transformation of one of the humans into a Wirrn, accomplished with green spray-painted bubble wrap, doesn't look terrible because of the fact that bubble wrap is used: insects seem to be able to create remarkable geometric structures (honeycombs, wasps nests, etc)... the use of bubble wrap, with its tiny, identical circles, is absolutely perfect and is therefore convincing.

I can't believe I've made such a big deal about the production values here, as I didn't really mean to, but they are obviously worth congratulating. But everything else is great here too: the premise of the story (pre-"Alien", I will say again), the excellent new Doctor and his companions, the setting, and the story that follows the Doctor's arrival, told over the course of four mesmerizing episodes ... You can't go wrong with this one. Of all the Tom Baker stories to be selected for a release on DVD, I am glad that this was among the first. The DVD contains a wonderful vintage interview with Tom Baker, by the way, filmed while he was still just settling into the part. Very interesting indeed.

Carry on Carry on,

MN ... Read more

Description

The Keeper has maintained harmony in the empire of Traken for a millennium, but fading fast, he summons the Doctor for help. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Beginning of the end of the Tom Baker era.
Another trilogy comes hot on the heels of the E-Space trilogy, which saw the debut of Adric and the departure of Romana and K9. The next transition paves the way for new companions and in Castrovalva, a new Doctor.

The Keeper Of Traken, the Fourth Doctor's penultimate story, is the first story of this second transition and involves the Doctor and Adric, now back in normal space, invited to Traken at the behest of the Keeper, the powerful inwho serves as the organizing principle of the Traken Union. What is the Traken Union? It's "a whole empire held together by people being terribly nice to each other," where "evil just shrivels up and dies." Pity something like that doesn't exist on Earth. The Keeper, now nearing the end of his reign, feels some kind of evil coming to Traken, and it somehow involves three good people--Consul Tremas, his new wife Kassia, also a Consul, and his daughter from his previous marriage, Nyssa.

There's also the Melkur, what Trakenites call evil beings who are trapped upon landing on Traken, calcify, and pass harmlessly through the soil. This Melkur, a white statue with an angular face, seems to be taking its tim