Serial 84: The Brain of Morbius

Doctor: Tom Baker (4th Doctor)
Companion: Sarah Jane Smith

Written by: Robin Bland (a.k.a Terrance Dicks and Robert Holmes)
Directed by: Christopher Barry

Background & Significance: Season 13 of Doctor Who is perhaps one of the best seasons of television the show ever experienced. After a season of stories coordinated by the previous production team, this new start allowed Holmes to sculpt the show into whatever he wanted it to be. As we've discussed previously, this resulted in a season full of horror pastiches and sendups. Mummies, mutant plants, shapeshifters, body snatchers...

And now? Frankenstein.

"Brain of Morbius" comes at the exact halfway point of their era and represents the pinnacle of the Hinchcliffe/Holmes vision for the show. Originally written by Terrance Dicks (the original version had an aesthetically-challenged robot that cobbled together a body for the wrecked Morbius based on its own warped view of human anatomy), it was eventually almost completely re-written by Robert Holmes, so much so that Dicks asked his name be removed from the writing credit. As such, it's really a Holmesian contribution to Doctor Who and to say otherwise is massive, massive self-deception (as we'll discuss) because... well... it's a Holmes story, isn't it?

So let's get to it!

Serial 80: Terror of the Zygons

Doctor: Tom Baker (4th Doctor)
Companions: Sarah Jane, Harry

Written by: Robert Banks Stewart
Directed by: Douglas Camfield

Background & Significance: Usually when there's a shakeup in Classic Doctor Who there's a slow period of transition as the show moves into its new ethos. You see it in the Hartnell era when Verity Lambert slowly transitioned into John Wells slowly transitioned into Innes Lloyd with some crossover of stories there. Wells's only real contributions were "The Massacre" and "The Ark" ("Myth-Makers" and "Daleks' Master Plan" being Lambert commissioned) while "The Celestial Toymaker" and "The Gunfighters" were more Wellsian than they were Lloydian.

The transition, the weaning, really helps bridge the gap between a giant paradigm shift, and "Terror of the Zygons" is a fantastic bridge between the UNIT era and the Gothic Horror of Hinchcliffe/Holmes.

Written by Robert Banks Stewart in his first of two contributions to Doctor Who, this story features the last appearance by The Brigadier until "Mawdryn Undead" some eightish years later. Stewart's prior credits (or at least the one most influential on this story) included The Avengers, leading Stewart to really focus on writing his Doctor Who like The Avengers. Script Editor Robert Holmes eventually smoothed out the edges caused by this, but it's clear that this is Doctor Who unlike we've seen previously. This is really high on the rural adventure that The Avengers was so known for in the 60s, which is not unwelcome and instead comes across as tremendously exciting and delightfully fresh.

To direct, the production team brought back Douglas Camfield, one of the great Doctor Who directors, for his first contribution to the program since 1970's "Inferno". Unsurprisingly, Camfield was brought back by the tenacity of the script and tailored his style to fit that.

But really, this is the deep wane of the UNIT years. While UNIT is a present in this, it's more than clear that The Doctor has outgrown them and they have no place in the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era. That doesn't stop them from re-appearing twice more in this season (in "The Android Invasion" and "The Seeds of Doom"), but as you'll see in those stories, their opportunity had long since past and they're very, very faded into the background. The Brigadier isn't in "Android Invasion" and Harry and Benton aren't even in "Seeds of Doom". There were plans to kill The Brigadier off in this story (according to legend, it was even Nicholas Courtney's idea), but Hinchcliffe opted to not kill off one of the programme's main supporting players, which led to the quiet exit of UNIT instead of a bombastic blaze of glory.

In their defense, UNIT had had too many opportunities for the bombastic blaze of glory. Probably best to go quietly.

Oh and this story has the Loch Ness Monster. So if you're ever wondering which one that is, it's this one. This is the one in which Doctor Who does the Loch Ness Monster.

So let's get to it!

Serial 81: The Planet of Evil

Doctor: Tom Baker (4th Doctor)

Companions: Sarah Jane

Written by: Louis Marks
Directed by: David Maloney

Editor's Note: Hey, guys! I have the week off to prepare(?) for next week's entry. Which (knowing me and what kinda story it is) will be a gargantuan entry. So this week Cassandra's stepping in to talk about a different planet. Only this one belongs to an adjective. Not arachnids.

Background & Significance: "Planet of Evil" aired towards the beginning of Season Thirteen of Doctor Who, the second of Tom Baker's seven seasons, as well as the second season of the show being overseen by the almighty Hinchcliffe and Holmes. We've been around long enough that you should know how we feel about this guys. And these first three seasons of Tom Baker. =)

Season Thirteen is an interesting season because everys tory in it is an homage in one way or another to a very famous sci-fi/horror classic. "Zygons" is essentially Invasion of the Body Snatchers. "Pyramids of Mars" is a send up to mummy movies. "Android Invasion" is Body Snatchers again. "Brain of Morbius" is Frankenstein, "Seeds of Doom" is The Thing and Day of the Triffids, and "Planet of Evil" is Forbidden Planet as well as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

The thing about this season, though, is that it takes the tropes and homages the works, but in a way that if you're not familiar with what they're homaging it doesn't take away from the storytelling at all. And I really enjoy that. I've never seen Forbidden Planet, but I'm still able to enjoy this, as well as pick up what they were going for. It's a very clever way of taking classics and spinning them in such a way to suit Doctor Who, which is one of the reasons I really love this season (except "Android Invasion" of course).

"Planet of Evil is also written and directed by names with whom we're pretty familiar. Louis Marks had previously penned "Planet of the Giants" and "Day of the Daleks" (which is also great), and would go on to write "Masque of Mandragora," which is a pretty great track record, if I do say so myself. And David Maloney, of course, directed such awesomeness as "The Mind Robber," "War Games," "Genesis of the Daleks," "The Deadly Assassin," and "The Talons of Weng-Chiang." So don't mess.

This is also the first adventure with The Doctor and Sarah Jane without Harry, who decided to stay on Earth at the end of "Terror of the Zygons." Prepare for awesome.

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

Serial 85: The Seeds of Doom

Doctor: Tom Baker (4th Doctor)
Companion: Sarah Jane Smith

Written by: Robert Banks Stewart
Directed by: Douglas Camfield

Background & Significance: Each story in Tom Baker's second season covered a Doctor Who twist on a different horror movie. The season had already done a version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Mummy, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (twice!), Frankenstein. "The Seeds of Doom" was loosely based on "The Thing From Another World" (better known in modern circles simply as "The Thing") and a famous science fiction novel called Day of the Triffids, which, for those who don't remember, is about a bunch of killer plants.

So yes, this story is probably best remembered as "that one with the plants".

"The Seeds of Doom" is the final story of Tom Baker's second season and the second of the three six-parters in The Hinchcliffe/Holmes era ("Genesis of the Daleks" being the first, "Talons of Weng-Chiang" being the third), and it was at this point that Doctor Who was at its most popular ever. Tons of people were watching week-to-week. Mary Whitehouse was screaming as often as she could about how Hinchcliffe/Holmes should be fired because of the show's violent and horrific content (thereby bringing in more people to watch it because that's what hype does). Holmes was gaining more and more influence on the show's writing, so much so that starting in the season following this one he was allowed to write two stories a season, a huge move against traditional BBC policy, which explicitly forbade a script editor from commissioning his own scripts. Hinchcliffe was pushing the budget more and more and more and making the show into a gorgeous looking thing so the sets that weren't made of two planks of plywood and a loofa. People were eating it up.

Not only that, but this is Tom Baker at some of his stunning, stunning best. It's Elisabeth Sladen running around and having a jolly time and being one of the best companions ever. Its dastardly, evil villains who are some of the best I've ever seen. It's brilliant, engaging science-fiction storytelling. How telling then, that this is the second and final script from Robert Banks Stewart, a famous writer for popular spy action drama show "The Avengers" (no, not THOSE Avengers, the other more British ones) who returned to Doctor Who after his great turn writing "Terror of the Zygons" and who infused his scripts with tons of action and adventure to the point where it really does feel like Doctor Who doing their spin on The Avengers. How choice, then, that they always paired him with the-oft-and-rightly-lauded director Douglas Camfield, who did some of the best action-centric Doctor Who of the Classic Era.

Can you tell we're in for a treat?

So let's get to it!

Serial 83: The Android Invasion

Doctor: Tom Baker (4th Doctor)
Companions: Sarah Jane

Writtten by: Terry Nation
Directed by: Barry Letts

Background & Significance: In the middle of Tom Baker's second season, you'd almost think that Hinchcliffe/Holmes were trying a little too hard to move away from the stories that came before them. As if it wasn't enough that they had clearly moved away from them and into new territory ("Ark in Space", "Genesis of the Daleks", "Revenge of the Cybermen"), it's strange that they would go to such lengths to attempt to reinforce the notion that the UNIT years were over and they weren't coming back again.

So it is that "The Android Invasion" continues the whitewashing of the walls of Doctor Who before Hinchcliffe/Holmes took over.

If I have one problem to fault them on, it's that. Isn't it enough that you've gone and made UNIT almost redundant in "Terror of the Zygons"? Do you really have to go and needlessly include them here or in "Seeds of Doom", where basically they're the LAPD to The Doctor's John McClaine? You'd think they'd have more confidence in themselves or whatever to not have to resort to kicking an old era to seem better than they actually are. By insisting on returning to Earth (not just Earth, though. UNIT era Earth) instead of forging ahead and making the stories that matter to them (Season 14, anyone?)  the Hinchcliffe/Holmes team really are doing a strange thing by not doing stories that play to their strengths. I mean, doesn't it make sense for them to do that?

To add to the confusion, the production team brings in Terry Nation to write and ex-producer Barry Letts to direct.

What we're left with is a bit of an uneven jumble. For one thing, it's totally strange to see Terry Nation write for Doctor Who not utilizing The Daleks as this is the second of only two stories he ever wrote to not feature his beloved creations (meaning that eight of the ten stories Terry Nation wrote for Doctor Who WERE Daleks stories), especially when Nation isn't able to fall back on any of the usual tricks he does with his Daleks. It's also strange to see Barry Letts behind the camera, especially when he was so instrumental in defining the basic everything of the UNIT era and this is so decidedly... not.

Couple those together and this is something of a weird story. It's the return of Benton and Harry (although why, I am not sure) in each of their last appearances on the show and features (as always with a Nation story) some great ideas that never quite congeal in the way you want them to.

More than anything it really cements the notion of how radically new and awesome the Hinchcliffe/Holmes era ended up being. Utilizing new writers/directors/talents was the name of the game during their time, writers who wouldn't ever appear again (I'm looking at you Chris Boucher and Robert Blanks Stewart) and directors who saw their epic last swansong on the show (Rodney Bennett, David Maloney, and Douglas Camfield). But to see such old veterans slash crusty old dudes mixed in amongst this brand new, glossy, shiny, badass interpretation, the story really goes out of its way to make it clear that these two have no business in this new world order.

Which is rather sad, but understandable. I guess we should talk about that.

So let's get to it!

Serial 82: The Pyramids of Mars

Doctor: Tom Baker (4th Doctor)
Companion: Sarah Jane Smith

Written by: Stephen Harris (a.k.a. Robert Holmes and Lewis Greifer)
Directed by: Paddy Russell

Background & Significance: Robert Holmes wanted Mummies.

If you trace this whole story back to where it started, Robert Holmes wanted a Doctor Who story with mummies in the vein of some god damn old school horror movies. He contracted Lewis Greifer to give him a story with Mummies and gods and stuff, but it wasn't enough and the Mummies weren't real mummies and the gods weren't real gods and The Doctor was written all weird, and Holmes didn't like it, so he kept the concept and rewrote the whole thing from scratch, keeping very little except the title.

And it's one of the best Doctor Who stories of all time.

Granted, that's a gimme, as this one comes in the middle of the very popular Gothic era. But still. It's not like everything in the era gets a pass. All that really matters is that great Doctor Who is great Doctor Who. When we get down to it, the eras don't really matter except to follow the path of tonal shifts over the life of an almost-fifty-year long television story. Eras themselves boil down to a particular producer's vision and how well they seemed to work in harmony with their script editor.

It's also totally, totally classic Holmesian Doctor Who. It's got the similar themes, recurring tropes, undeniable horror, bits of humour. It also establishes a new precedent in Doctor Who history and the moment where Sarah Jane urges The Doctor to pimp the frak out of there and just forget it because the world still exists in 1980 is a game changer, to say the least.

Really, when you get right down to it, this whole serial is just made of win and it's... well... Yeah. It's my favourite so far. Better than "War Games". And that's saying something cuz for the longest time War Games was the one to beat. But yeah. Now it's Pyramids. And the best part? Anyone who's a fan of the new series will love it. And anyone who's a fan of the classic series will love it. It's really got something for everyone. So good.

Seriously, go find it on Netflix or whatever and watch it before checking it out here. It's super awesome and it holds up, man. Totally totally. You'll love it.

Watched it yet? I can wait...

No really. I can.

...

Ready? Awesome.

So let's get to it!