Nightmare of Eden

Bob Baker’s name looks very lonely in the credit sequence without the ‘and Dave Martin’ but his first solo script is probably the best he has been involved with for the programme. There are very imaginative ideas- conservation involving storing whole ecosystems on a ‘Continual Event Transmuter’, narcotics that are formed from the decay of an alien’s body and ‘warp’ flight causing two ships to become embedded in each other. The characters are believable and act in interesting ways, even if some are not that well drawn. The villains are not truly evil- Tryst has turned to drug-running to finance his conservation efforts and Dymond is more worthy of contempt than hatred. There is some excellent dialogue and the fact that the plot revolves around an ongoing crisis gives it a sense of urgency. The narcotics plotline is dealt with in a genuinely adult way- although it’s hardly Traffik or The Wire, the plot doesn’t merely broadcast the message that ‘drugs are bad’; instead it shows what motivates people to deal in them and how willing they are to deny their responsibility for the destruction of lives the that drug trade brings.

As many have said before me, BakerMartin scripts wildly overestimated what was possible on Doctor Who’s budget. This is not the case with this script, where the script demands nothing unrealistic from the budget. However, tragically, this story was evidently allocated a far smaller budget than was usual. The sets are hardly the best the programme have had- a special dishonourable mention must be given to the ‘economy class’ section of the ship, which is just a room with chairs in it. The other sets are more convincing, but it is very obvious that there aren’t many of them. The only reasonably good set is the one for the Eden environment in the CET. Then there are the monsters. The Mandrels look pretty ridiculous even before you see that they have flared legs (1979 is a bit late for flares, surely?)

The main problem with the story is the direction and, it should be said at the start, this is not director Alan Bromly’s fault. He clearly knows what to do with the camera and has an idea who the characters are and how they should interact. However, the very tight budget obviously meant the actors were under-rehearsed and there were clearly few, if any, retakes- something that is obvious in the number of fluffs and the set wobbles (nothing like as common an occurrence in the programme as a whole as lazy commentators would have you think) and monster costumes not zipping up at the back etc. The story was, in fact, produced in a similar way to the Hartnell episodes without the production team having the experience and skill of working within those restraints. Had the story been given the same level of attention as, say, Planet of Evil, this story would have been seen as a classic.

The cast is rather good, in spite of the rushed execution of the story. David Daker does good work as Captain Rigg and conveys as effectively as a family programme can a man going through a high, a comedown and withdrawal. Geoffrey Hinsliff is wonderfully officious as Fisk. Lewis Fiander’s performance as Tryst is watchable, but his attempt to do a futuristic ‘Creole European’ accent unfortunately reminds me of Stephen Fry’s Eastern European characters in A Bit of Fry and Laurie- I was half expecting Tryst to exclaim ‘You are shatting right that is what I am going to do!’ The regulars are excellent, with Tom Baker being clearly invigorated by the script and Lalla Ward ably assisting.

It’s cheap and shabby but if you forgive the many production disasters, there is an excellent story to be found here.

NEXT: The Horns of Nimon