Just a quick post here to cover these two stories. I want to keep the next batch separate for a specific theme. That doesn't mean that these episodes are not worthwhile. Well some of them anyway...
Horror of Fang Rock
It's the start of the Graham Williams era of the program as he steps into the producer role, but due to the continued presence of Robert Holmes, this feels very much as if it is part of the previous season. This serial keeps up the quality level laid down by 'Robots' and 'Talons'. Indeed it's one of the very best tales in the 26 year run of Classic Who.
We all know the tale. Isolated lighthouse. Thick fog. Unexplained deaths. Bickering shipwreck survivors. A green jelly fish monster from outer space.
Oh, and Everybody Dies.
It's also comparable to the Troughton base-under-siege stories, but with oodles more atmosphere. By confining the action to just a few moodily lit rooms in the lighthouse - plus the treacherous rocks outside - it heightens the sense of claustrophobia. Nowhere is safe. Those sets are also dressed really well, adding enormously to the authenticity of the location.
I'm less convinced that the supporting characters are so well served - at least initially. I know I might be in the minority here, but despite some nice opening dialogue and attempts at creating personalities for our bunch of lighthouse keepers, Reuben seems a combination of every salty sea dog cliché - Vince is a bit of a young, naïve drip - and Ben isn't around long enough to make an impression, although his facial topiary is quite something.
Things do pick up once the toffs from the yacht arrive though. Palmerdale, Skinsale and Miss Adelaide are a trio of thoroughly unlikeable bankers. The Doctor is instantly hostile towards them and rightly so - Palmerdale in particular is an odious little over-privileged halfwit more concerned about his portfolio than the lives of his companions. No wonder the Doctor treats him with barely concealed contempt. Adelaide is not much better, looking down her nose at everything and expecting to be waited on hand and foot. It's immensely gratifying when Leela threatens Palmerdale with a knife and then slaps the incredibly annoying 'secretary' in the face. To be honest, the only minor let-down is that the Palmerdale-Skinsale subplot is totally superfluous and goes nowhere, but I guess it does give the characters some interesting motivations.
The Doctor and Leela shine here as a great contrasts to each other. An allegedly very grumpy Tom (was it really all about being dragged up to Birmingham?) gives us a Time Lord who's every bit the alien. His performance is hard to pin down, veering from bright playfulness to aloof indifference to brooding despondency and scowling anger. He's also slightly manic, stating that "this lighthouse is under attack and by morning we might all be dead" with a big grin on face. It's Baker at perhaps his most mercurial, and all the better for it.
Leela gets the best outing of her whole time on the show. Louise Jameson gives us multiple facets of the character who has developed a lot through her association with the Doctor. She is intensely passionate and curious and open to new ideas. However the savage is still there under the surface when she insists "Slay me Doctor, it is the fate of the old and crippled" after she is blinded and she also she gloats over the death of the Rutan.
Personally I don't mind the Rutan as a green blob. It's hardly the worst monster we've seen in the series. It's very effective as a hidden presence and when it's imitating Rueben (that smile is incredibly sinister). In it's true form it's perhaps a little lacklustre and the Doctor isn't scared of it in the slightest - in fact, he basically takes the mickey out of it.
The resolution to the threat of the Rutan and it's mothership is just over a bit too quickly to my mind and although it was nice to use the lighthouse itself as the high-energy laser, it feels ever so slightly contrived. The Doctor desperately needs a diamond to defeat his enemy and look - there just happens to be a shipwrecked banker with a gemstone about his person. It's forgivable though because it's all done so well.
Director Paddy Russell should get a lot of the credit for this. She makes the most of a limited budget and resources and by ramping up the tension and atmosphere and getting the best from her difficult star, she turns 'Fang Rock' into something very special indeed. It's definitely in my list of top stories.
But then, in complete contrast, we come to:
The Invisible Enemy
Hmmm. It must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Doctor Who rips off Fantastic Voyage with a dash of biological body possession - all standard Hinchcliffe / Holmes tropes. A script from the reliable Bristol Boys featuring two versions of the main leads, a guest villain appearance from Who stalwart Michael Sheard and a robot dog to attract the Star Wars fans. It should have been tremendous.
But I recall this one as being well below par. Surely it can't be as terrible as I remember? Can it ? Sadly, in this case, the memory doesn't cheat. It's a great idea for a drama badly executed in almost every way. Most of the production values are just horrendous, the direction is workmanlike at best and the titular monster - well we'll come to that.The fact that it follows two well regarded stories just highlights its shortcomings even more.
Before you think that I'm going to just be negative, it's not all bad. A lot of part one is pretty reasonable. The opening model shots of the spacecraft in flight, the takeover over by the Swarm and the arrival at Titan base are all very impressive. The BBC VFX department has always been excellent at this sort of thing.
Once inside the base it's possession-a-go-go as everyone gets a turn at delivering the "Contact Has Been Made" catchphrase. Of course they also develop the crazy tin-foil eye make-up, like they’ve grown the weirdest uni-brow in the universe. If you want to infiltrate and take over the universe, be a bit more subtle about it. Even the Doctor’s has a go at the tagline, although of course Tom Baker’s very good at acting the bad guy - all blank stares and disturbing intonation.
It's when we move to the Bi-Al Foundation that things all fall apart. Firstly it's the emptiest medical research facility in the galaxy, seemingly staffed by just one crazy doctor with an iffy accent and a couple of his orderlies wandering around in squeaky green outfits with bored looks in their faces. There's no sense of scale, and therefore no sense of threat to anyone when things heat up.
By now Michael Sheard's got in on the eyebrow act but even he can't make a silk purse out of the risible dialogue he is given to work with. All Lowe gets to do is to strut around barking angry threats at everyone he comes into contact with at ever increasing levels of anger, to the point where you expect him to burst a blood vessel any minute. He'll destroy the base will he? Go ahead - I doubt there is anyone around to notice.
By the time we get to the cloning / miniaturisation / injected into the Doctor's brain scenes the budget has well and truly been used up. It's time for bad science, shoddy effects and dreadfully poor realisation to dump the intriguing concepts by the wayside, as the story drags itself further into the mire. Let's face it - classic Doctor Who was never going to compete with Star Wars and the like - but there are times here when things are truly cringe-worthy, as CSO and unconvincing sets try to pose as the Doctor's innards. Leela and Lowe being attacked by giant balls of cotton wool isn't exactly a resounding success either. Only the bridge between the two halves of the Doctor's mind looks anywhere near acceptable.
The biggest crime is of course the Nucleus itself. Not content with being first depicted as a black sack with silver googly eyes and a wobbly claw (about as terrifying as a sock puppet), it then escapes the Doctor's body and grows to become the Giant Space Prawn of Doom. A wobbly disco dancing space prawn at that. It's hilarious - and not in a good way. To make matters worse the creature can't even move by itself, needing the aid of two burly converts to drag it down the brightly lit corridors. My wife happened to walk in at that point, and her face just said it all. Far from Who's finest moment.
After some gobbledygook about Leela's immunity factor, the Doctor and Marius are cured and the cast rush back to Titan base to halt the birth of the macro-sized Swarm by their laughable leader. It all ends in a jolly big methane explosion to finish them all off and resolve the plot. I think. It's so badly edited I can't be sure exactly what happened. To be fair by this point I had kind of switched off. I have tried to pay attention all the way through the project no matter the quality of the adventure, but finally I had to admit defeat. I'm struggling to recall the details about the final episode even now. Maybe I should force myself to watch it again? Nonetheless there is that wonderful moment where the Doctor takes off leaving Leela behind, realises his mistake, lands again and she jumps in. That I liked.
Of course the big thing I haven't mentioned is the debut of everyone's favourite (or not) Tin Dog, Introducing a robot character is a refreshing idea, clearly aimed at the kiddies - but a worthwhile one, as demonstrated by the fact that K9 is still fondly remembered to this day. It also helps that John Leeson gives him just the right kind of prissy, smug, know-it all voice. K-9's definitely a useful thing to have around in a gunfight (he can seemingly shoot round corners too) - but boy oh boy, isn't he noisy ? There's no way in the world you wouldn't hear him coming. If my car made that kind of racket I'd be straight down to the mechanic.
I can see why the production team wanted to keep K-9 around. There's a certain charm about the metal mutt - yet I'm not entirely persuaded that the Doctor is that enamoured of him at the start. Actually, I'm not that sure the Doctor likes *anyone* at this point. At times he's been quite rude and almost abrasive to Leela. The way he dispatches Lowe to the hatching Swarm is quite brutal too.
So in conclusion - full marks for being brave and thinking outside the box. Minus several hundred for over-reaching, thinking "that'll do" and delivering something that's slightly embarrassing.
Onwards...
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