The Seeds of Death

The Ice Warriors return to Doctor Who in this ambitious 6-parter, attempting to invade Earth at a time when teleportation, or "T-Mat" has replaced all traditional forms of transport, including manned space flight. They plan to use this technology to spread deadly Martian seed pods throughout the world that will drastically reduce the oxygen content of the atmosphere.

As in their debut outing, The Seeds of Death has mankind relying too much on one piece of technology, and that over-reliance being a severe handicap. However, unlike most of the Cybermen stories, this is not simply a rewrite of the earlier story and has the advantage of not having a plot of torturous stupidity. The story’s main asset is the very slick direction by Michael Ferguson. The Ice Warriors’ initial attack is done using POV shots, there are interesting high and low angle shots. There is a conversation scene in episode one which is shot with a very shallow depth of field, so that the speaker is brought into focus and the other person taken out of focus. This slickness is also evident in the model shots- I would hazard a guess that this was, conceptually, the first post-2001: A Space Odyssey Doctor Who story. The episode titles are filmed over an ersatz (but quite effective) version of the title sequence from 2001 and the special effects team have realised that you can get much better effects by moving the camera rather than moving the model. Unfortunately, the seeds and the fungus they spread are realised by using white balloons and foam. (incidentally, I fail to see what was so alien about foam in late 60s Britain- had they never done the washing up?)

In all this slickness, the Ice Warriors themselves can sometimes be a bit lost. There are a few too many scenes where they take ages to shoot someone, or fail to see someone in the periphery of their line of sight. However, the scenes where the lone Ice Warrior is stalking the grounds of Earth Control are very effective. Also effective is the performance of Alan Bennion as Slaar, the Ice Lord. Bennion projects incredible menace in his rasping voice, and his sleeker costume makes him seem more agile.

The supporting cast is good, especially Terry Scully, who is excellent as the frightened Fewsham. Louise Pajo also gives a nicely modulated performance as Gia Kelly and Philip Ray works well as Professor Eldred (although he lingually titubates more than Hartnell ever did!). The regulars are again brilliant- I am convinced, now, that the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are the best team we’ve had since the Hartnell era.

There is inevitable padding out of the script to make it a 6-parter (although nothing like as egregious as the padding in season 5) and it lacks a degree of thematic depth. However, this is hugely enjoyable and recommended.

NEXT: The Space Pirates