EPISODE: The Talons of Weng-Chiang Part One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 448
STORY NUMBER: 091
TRANSMITTED: 26 February 1977
WRITER: Robert Holmes
DIRECTOR: David Maloney
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who: Revisitations Box Set - Volume 1 (The Caves Of Androzani / The Talons Of Weng-Chiang / Doctor Who - The Movie)
At a Victorian theatre a cab driver arrives enquiring of Theatre Manager Henry Gordon Jago and his star hypnotist & ventriloquist Li H'sen Chang as to the whereabouts of his wise. The Doctor & Leela arrive nearby, intent on visiting the Theatre. The taxi driver is murdered by the ventriloquist's dummy, Mr Sin, who is moving by himself and the Doctor & Leela attacked by a group of Chinese workers. A policeman arrives and takes the Doctor & Leela into custody along with one of the men attacking them. Li H'sen Chang is called in to translate but when left alone he gets the man to commit suicide taking scorpion venom. Jago finds blood on the hands of Mr Sin. An autopsy is organised allowing the Doctor to meet pathologist Professor Litefoot and gets to see the mutilated body of the taxi driver. The Doctor finds evidence that the man was killed by a giant rat. The Doctor is assaulted by another Chinese man in the street who Leela kills. They venture into the sewers where they are confronted by the giant rat.
Ah, Victorian London. Jack the Ripper, Sherlock Holmes, pea soupers. An ideal setting for a Doctor Who story and it's amazing that, bar a visit to a Victorian Country House, that Doctor Who hasn't visited this era & setting before. (The Gunfighters is set just eight years earlier, but that takes place on the other side of the world). Throw in some Chinese gangsters and a few disappearing women (we're back to the Ripper again) and away we go.
Cast time: as Li H'sen Chang we have English actor John Bennett disguised in make up. He was previously General Finch in Invasion of the Dinosaurs. I've just seen him this week in a 2004 New Tricks! His "dummy, Mr Sin, is played by Deep Roy, later to appear as the Posicarian delegate in Mindwarp, the second section of Trial of a Timelord. He's best known now for being the Oompa Lumpas (all of them) in the 2005 film Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. Christopher Benjamin, as Henry Gordon Jago, was previously Sir Keith Gold in Inferno, and appears in the new series as Colonel Hugh in The Unicorn and the Wasp. Finally, making an on-screen appearance for the first time, Dudley Simpson, the series regular composer, appears as the Conductor.
Monday, 13 February 2012
Sunday, 12 February 2012
447 The Robots of Death Part Four
EPISODE: The Robots of Death Part Four
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 447
STORY NUMBER: 090
TRANSMITTED: 19 February 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Michael Briant
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who Revisitations 3 (The Tomb of the Cybermen and the Robots of Death)
Uvanov immobilises the robot attacking the Doctor with a probe from the repair bay. A robot gains access to Toos' quarters but is summoned away by SV7. The Doctor & Uvanov reach the command deck, closely followed by Leela & Toos and finally D84 bringing the near catatonic Poul. The Doctor has the others lock themselves into themselves onto the bridge while he, Leela & D84 go to deal with Taren Capel. Dask hammers on the command deck door but Toos won't admit him. He is revealed to be Taren Capel, and is dressed like a robot. The Doctor constructs a device to destroy robot brains and obtains some helium gas from the stores. They return to the workshop where Leela hides in a cupboard with orders to release the gas. Capel enters, and cripples D84. While the Doctor is strapped to the operating table by Capel, Leela releases the gas his voice begins to change. Capel tortures the Doctor but S84 activates the Doctor's device destroying himself and the robots accompanying Capel. SV7 arrives, and failing to recognise Capel's voice it kills him. The Doctor destroys SV7 with a probe. As Uvanov & Toos await a rescue ship The Doctor & Leela sneak away in the Tardis.
Superb. Fabulous. A great final solution with the Doctor's eventual solution of using the gas to change Capel's voice telegraphed earlier on in the episode with SV7 not spotting Toos' voice because his command circuits had been changed. Hang the gun on the wall, use it later.... This time the voice gets changed meaning the robot can't recognise it.
Describing these episode to you I inevitably have to cut out some detail and this story is packed with wonderful little detail: the corpse markers, the ranks for the crew that tell you what they do, the medical name for Robophobia: Grimwade's syndrome, named after Production Assistant and future director & writer Peter Grimwade.
And the design. Oh what wonderful sets and corridors, a lavish environment completely different from the harsh functionality you usually see on spaceships. But best of all: The Robots. How fabulous do they look? And isn't Gregory de Polnay's performance as D84 superb? The Doctor will shortly end up with a robot companion but they could have done worse than leave the Sandminer with D84 in the Tardis.
The long & the short of it is that Robots of Death is probably one of my favourite Doctor Who stories and is also one of the best. As we shall see in a short while the two are not exclusive to each other. If I was looking for a classic Who tale to show to a "Not-We" this would be it.
Sadly it's the last directing job for the show for Michael Briant. While his stories haven't necessarily always been from the top drawer he's always done his best with the material that he's been given and, since he started contributing to the DVD range, has been an enthusiastic & entertaining commentator - see Colony in Space & Sea Devils for the two commentaries that he's on that have so far been released.... and bellow for a third that's coming shortly!
Robots of Death was repeated later that same year (and very early the next) as two 50-minute episodes on the Saturday 31 December at 6:25pm & Sunday 1 January 1977 at 4:45pm. Terrance Dicks novelised Robots of Death in the middle of his "one book every month" phase. It isn't the greatest or indeed longest book in the range. It was released on video first as a compilation tape in 1986 and then as an episodic tape in 1995. I'd never had that much enthusiasm for the story from what I read about it and didn't buy it during my initial phases of video buying. I acquired it while at University (Royal Holloway College, University of London) and can remember sitting down with some friends to watch in in my room and thinking "my goodness, this is rather good really". Doctor Who - The Robots Of Death was the second DVD release on 13th November 2000 and as such isn't quite up to the technical quality of some of the later titles. The commentary in particular, the first to be recorded, featuring writer Chris Boucher & producer Philip Hinchcliffe is a bit flat and is the only one just to feature production personnel. This made Robots of Death the ideal candidate to be revised and it will be included in the Revisitations III box set along with Tomb of the Cybermen (which needs VIDFiring) & The Three Doctors (which had a fault). New documentaries, a brand new commentary featuring Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Pamela Salem (Toos) & Director Michael Briant.
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 447
STORY NUMBER: 090
TRANSMITTED: 19 February 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Michael Briant
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who Revisitations 3 (The Tomb of the Cybermen and the Robots of Death)
Uvanov immobilises the robot attacking the Doctor with a probe from the repair bay. A robot gains access to Toos' quarters but is summoned away by SV7. The Doctor & Uvanov reach the command deck, closely followed by Leela & Toos and finally D84 bringing the near catatonic Poul. The Doctor has the others lock themselves into themselves onto the bridge while he, Leela & D84 go to deal with Taren Capel. Dask hammers on the command deck door but Toos won't admit him. He is revealed to be Taren Capel, and is dressed like a robot. The Doctor constructs a device to destroy robot brains and obtains some helium gas from the stores. They return to the workshop where Leela hides in a cupboard with orders to release the gas. Capel enters, and cripples D84. While the Doctor is strapped to the operating table by Capel, Leela releases the gas his voice begins to change. Capel tortures the Doctor but S84 activates the Doctor's device destroying himself and the robots accompanying Capel. SV7 arrives, and failing to recognise Capel's voice it kills him. The Doctor destroys SV7 with a probe. As Uvanov & Toos await a rescue ship The Doctor & Leela sneak away in the Tardis.
Superb. Fabulous. A great final solution with the Doctor's eventual solution of using the gas to change Capel's voice telegraphed earlier on in the episode with SV7 not spotting Toos' voice because his command circuits had been changed. Hang the gun on the wall, use it later.... This time the voice gets changed meaning the robot can't recognise it.
Describing these episode to you I inevitably have to cut out some detail and this story is packed with wonderful little detail: the corpse markers, the ranks for the crew that tell you what they do, the medical name for Robophobia: Grimwade's syndrome, named after Production Assistant and future director & writer Peter Grimwade.
And the design. Oh what wonderful sets and corridors, a lavish environment completely different from the harsh functionality you usually see on spaceships. But best of all: The Robots. How fabulous do they look? And isn't Gregory de Polnay's performance as D84 superb? The Doctor will shortly end up with a robot companion but they could have done worse than leave the Sandminer with D84 in the Tardis.
The long & the short of it is that Robots of Death is probably one of my favourite Doctor Who stories and is also one of the best. As we shall see in a short while the two are not exclusive to each other. If I was looking for a classic Who tale to show to a "Not-We" this would be it.
Sadly it's the last directing job for the show for Michael Briant. While his stories haven't necessarily always been from the top drawer he's always done his best with the material that he's been given and, since he started contributing to the DVD range, has been an enthusiastic & entertaining commentator - see Colony in Space & Sea Devils for the two commentaries that he's on that have so far been released.... and bellow for a third that's coming shortly!
Robots of Death was repeated later that same year (and very early the next) as two 50-minute episodes on the Saturday 31 December at 6:25pm & Sunday 1 January 1977 at 4:45pm. Terrance Dicks novelised Robots of Death in the middle of his "one book every month" phase. It isn't the greatest or indeed longest book in the range. It was released on video first as a compilation tape in 1986 and then as an episodic tape in 1995. I'd never had that much enthusiasm for the story from what I read about it and didn't buy it during my initial phases of video buying. I acquired it while at University (Royal Holloway College, University of London) and can remember sitting down with some friends to watch in in my room and thinking "my goodness, this is rather good really". Doctor Who - The Robots Of Death was the second DVD release on 13th November 2000 and as such isn't quite up to the technical quality of some of the later titles. The commentary in particular, the first to be recorded, featuring writer Chris Boucher & producer Philip Hinchcliffe is a bit flat and is the only one just to feature production personnel. This made Robots of Death the ideal candidate to be revised and it will be included in the Revisitations III box set along with Tomb of the Cybermen (which needs VIDFiring) & The Three Doctors (which had a fault). New documentaries, a brand new commentary featuring Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Pamela Salem (Toos) & Director Michael Briant.
Saturday, 11 February 2012
446 The Robots of Death Part Three
EPISODE: The Robots of Death Part Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 446
STORY NUMBER: 090
TRANSMITTED: 12 February 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Michael Briant
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who Revisitations 3 (The Tomb of the Cybermen and the Robots of Death)
Dask cuts the power from the motor units averting an explosion but without power the Sandminer starts sinking. He leaves to fix the motor units. Leela tends to injury sustained by Toos while Poul explains about Zilda's past history with Uvanov: her brother was killed on a previous trip that Uvanov commanded. The restored motor units raise the Sandminer to the surface. Poul discovers one of the robots damaged in the incident has blood stained hands and collapses on the floor. SV7 is reprogrammed by the human killer. The Doctor catches the supposed dum D84 examining Zilda's body and asks him to explain itself. In a hidden lab another robot is reprogrammed. D84 admits he was put on board by the company suspecting that Taren Capel, a human supporting robot revolutionaries is aboard. They leave to seek his hidden workshop. SV7 reports to Toos that Uvanov has escaped his quarters. SV7 dispatches robots to kill Toos, The Doctor & Leela while he kills the others. V5 comes for Leela but enables her to escape the crew room that Poul locked her in. The Doctor & D84 find the workshop and warn the others, asking Toos to get everyone to the command deck, but a robot comes for her trapping her in her room. Leela finds the scared Poul sheltering from the robots, incapacitated by his fear. Uvanov finds the Doctor in the workshop just as a robot arrives to kill the Doctor.
Fab stuff again. Incredibly nobody dies during this episode, which is a shock after the rate they'd been bumped off in the first few episodes. There again there's only the Doctor, Leela and four of the Sandminer crew left so we're running out of both potential bodies and potential suspects!
You can't not mention the knife noise: As Leela throws her hunting knife at the robot there's a load comedy boing noise as it hits the robot. Deary me.
The inspiration behind the story in general is, as we said yesterday, an Agatha Christie style murder mystery. Elements of it are taken from elsewhere: the sandminer would appear to be a lift from Dune while the frequently mentioned Laws of Robotics, an in particular "A robot may not injure a human being", are the work of Isaac Asimov. The name of the commander of the Sandminer, Uvanov is a corruption of “Asimov”, while the use of the name Poul was a reference to author Poul Anderson, and Taren Capel a homage to Karel Capek, the man who first coined the term “robot” in his play RUR (Rossum's Universal Robots). I don't know if the rest of the characters names mean anything but I do see an awful lot of four letter names here; Paul, Dask, Chub & Toos which looks a little odd seeing them written like that.
You know if you view the Robots as servants then effectively the Butler did it!
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 446
STORY NUMBER: 090
TRANSMITTED: 12 February 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Michael Briant
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who Revisitations 3 (The Tomb of the Cybermen and the Robots of Death)
Dask cuts the power from the motor units averting an explosion but without power the Sandminer starts sinking. He leaves to fix the motor units. Leela tends to injury sustained by Toos while Poul explains about Zilda's past history with Uvanov: her brother was killed on a previous trip that Uvanov commanded. The restored motor units raise the Sandminer to the surface. Poul discovers one of the robots damaged in the incident has blood stained hands and collapses on the floor. SV7 is reprogrammed by the human killer. The Doctor catches the supposed dum D84 examining Zilda's body and asks him to explain itself. In a hidden lab another robot is reprogrammed. D84 admits he was put on board by the company suspecting that Taren Capel, a human supporting robot revolutionaries is aboard. They leave to seek his hidden workshop. SV7 reports to Toos that Uvanov has escaped his quarters. SV7 dispatches robots to kill Toos, The Doctor & Leela while he kills the others. V5 comes for Leela but enables her to escape the crew room that Poul locked her in. The Doctor & D84 find the workshop and warn the others, asking Toos to get everyone to the command deck, but a robot comes for her trapping her in her room. Leela finds the scared Poul sheltering from the robots, incapacitated by his fear. Uvanov finds the Doctor in the workshop just as a robot arrives to kill the Doctor.
Fab stuff again. Incredibly nobody dies during this episode, which is a shock after the rate they'd been bumped off in the first few episodes. There again there's only the Doctor, Leela and four of the Sandminer crew left so we're running out of both potential bodies and potential suspects!
You can't not mention the knife noise: As Leela throws her hunting knife at the robot there's a load comedy boing noise as it hits the robot. Deary me.
The inspiration behind the story in general is, as we said yesterday, an Agatha Christie style murder mystery. Elements of it are taken from elsewhere: the sandminer would appear to be a lift from Dune while the frequently mentioned Laws of Robotics, an in particular "A robot may not injure a human being", are the work of Isaac Asimov. The name of the commander of the Sandminer, Uvanov is a corruption of “Asimov”, while the use of the name Poul was a reference to author Poul Anderson, and Taren Capel a homage to Karel Capek, the man who first coined the term “robot” in his play RUR (Rossum's Universal Robots). I don't know if the rest of the characters names mean anything but I do see an awful lot of four letter names here; Paul, Dask, Chub & Toos which looks a little odd seeing them written like that.
You know if you view the Robots as servants then effectively the Butler did it!
Friday, 10 February 2012
445 The Robots of Death Part Two
EPISODE: The Robots of Death Part Two
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 445
STORY NUMBER: 090
TRANSMITTED: 05 February 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Michael Briant
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who Revisitations 3 (The Tomb of the Cybermen and the Robots of Death)
The Doctor survives by using a blowpipe to breathe and is rescued & captured by supervisor SV7 who identifies the body as Kerral. Leela works her way back to the room they were captured in where she finds Cass' body and is grabbed by a black robot, D84, who interrogates her before turning her over to Commander Uvanov who tells her that D class Dum robots can't speak. Both are taken to the crew room while the crew argue. Few of them even begin to believe the Doctor's story. A robot is instructed by an unseen human to kill Zilda as the Doctor & Leela are imprisoned in the robot storage bay. Poul visits them, but Leela is wary because "he moves like a hunter". The Doctor tells Poul he believes a robot could have killed them in violation of the robotic laws. He frees them to assist him and they re-enact Chub's murder with Poul realising he would need to summon a robot to help him with his task. Zilda breaks into Uvanov's quarters and is distressed by documents she finds, accusing Uvanov of murder. When Poul arrives he finds Uvanov standing over Zilda's dead body. Poul assumes Uvanov killed her and has him confined to quarters, with Toos taking command. The Sandminer's motors jam & overload causing it to rock violently. The Doctor & Leela come to the bridge as Dask reports to Toos that Borg is dead. Toos orders the motors shut down but the robots are unable to comply as the readings head way over the safety margins pushing the Sandminer closer towards exploding.
To paraphrase The Mary Whitehouse Experience: "Dead, Dead, Dead, Chub died first." They're dropping like flies in this story the order being Chub, Kerral (did we even see him alive?), Cass, Zilda & Borg. As far as we know there's just Uvanov, Poul, Toos & Dask left alive so, unless there's someone else on the sandminer we've not seen yet, one of them must be responsible for ordering the robots to kill. Which one is it? Effectively it's Doctor Who's version of a murder mystery, with Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None frequently sighted as an influence.
Oh look, there's our old friends, the computer panels from UFO again on the sandminer bridge!
Among the departed in this episode is Brian Croucher, here playing Borg, who was Travis in the second series of Blake's 7. So it's time to look at that second series and see who else we know that was involved. Still at the helm as producer & script editor are David Maloney, who'll be directing the next Doctor Who story that we watch, and Chris Boucher, who wrote this one and it's predecessor The Face of Evil.
EPISODE: B1 Redemption
DIRECTED BY: Vere Lorrimer
WRITTEN BY: Terry Nation
BROADCAST ON: 09/01/1979
Sheila Ruskin (Alta One) The Keeper of Traken: Kassia
Harriet Philpin (Alta Two) Genesis of the Daleks: Bettan
Roy Evans (Slave) The Daleks' Master Plan as Trantis, The Green Death as Bert & The Monster of Peladon as a miner
EPISODE: B2 Shadow
DIRECTED BY: Jonathan Wright Miller
WRITTEN BY: Chris Boucher
BROADCAST ON: 16/01/1979
Vernon Dobtcheff (Chairman) The War Games: Chief Scientist
EPISODE: B3 Weapon
DIRECTED BY: George Spenton-Foster Director: The Image of the Fendal & The Ribos Operation
WRITTEN BY: Chris Boucher
BROADCAST ON: 23/01/1979
John Bennett (Coser) Invasion of the Dinosaurs: General Finch & Talons of Weng Chiang as Li H'sen Chang
Scott Fredericks (Carnell) Day of the Daleks: Boaz & Image of the Fendahl: Maximilian Stael
EPISODE: B4 Horizon
DIRECTED BY: Jonathan Wright Miller
WRITTEN BY: Allan Prior
BROADCAST ON: 30/01/1979
William Squire (Kommissar) The Armageddon Factor: The Shadow
Brian Miller (Assistant Kommissar) Snakedance: Dugdale and Resurrection of the Daleks & Remembrance of the Daleks: Dalek voices. Married to Elizabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
EPISODE: B5 Pressure Point
DIRECTED BY: George Spenton-Foster
WRITTEN BY: Terry Nation
BROADCAST ON: 06/02/1979
Jane Sherwin (Kasabi) The War Games: Lady Jennifer Buckingham. Former Script Editor/Producer Derrick Sherwin's wife.
Yolande Palfrey (Veron) Trial of a Timelord 9-12 (Terror of the Vervoids): Janet
EPISODE: B6 Trial
DIRECTED BY: Derek Martinus Directed: Galaxy Four, Mission to the Unknown, The Tenth Planet, The Evil of the Daleks, The Ice Warriors & Spearhead from Space
WRITTEN BY: Chris Boucher
BROADCAST ON: 13/02/1979
John Savident (Samor) The Visitation: The Squire
Peter Miles (Rontane) Dr. Lawrence in Doctor Who and the Silurians, Professor Whitaker in Invasion of the Dinosaurs & Nyder in Genesis of the Daleks
EPISODE: B7 Killer
DIRECTED BY: Vere Lorrimer
WRITTEN BY: Robert Holmes The Krotons, The Space Pirates, Spearhead from Space, Terror of the Autons, Carnival of Monsters, The Time Warrior, The Ark In Space, Pyramids of Mars, The Deadly Assassin, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Sun Makers, The Ribos Operation, The Power of Kroll, The Caves of Androzani, The Two Doctors, Trial of a Timelord 1-4: The Mysterious Planet & Trial of a Timelord 13 The Ultimate Foe.
BROADCAST ON: 20/02/1979
Morris Barry (Wiler) Directed: The Moonbase, The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Dominators. Appeared in The Creature from the Pit as Tollund
EPISODE: B8 Hostage
DIRECTED BY: Vere Lorrimer
WRITTEN BY: Allan Prior
BROADCAST ON: 27/02/1979
John Abineri (Ushton) Fury from the Deep: van Lutyens, The Ambassadors of Death: General Carrington, Death to the Daleks: Railton & The Power of Kroll: Ranquin
Kevin Stoney (Joban) Mavic Chen in The Daleks' Master Plan, Tobias Vaughn in The Invasion and Tyrum in Revenge of the Cybermen
Andrew Robertson (Space Commander) Pirate Planet: Mr Fibuli
EPISODE: B9 Countdown
DIRECTED BY: Vere Lorrimer
WRITTEN BY: Terry Nation
BROADCAST ON: 06/03/1979
Tom Chadbon (Del Grant) City of Death: Duggan & Trial of a Timelord: Murdeen
Paul Shelley (Provine) Four to Doomsday: Persuasian
EPISODE: B10
DIRECTED BY: Voice from the Past
WRITTEN BY: George Spenton-Foster
BROADCAST ON: Roger Parkes
No Doctor Who cast members involved
EPISODE: B11 Gambit
DIRECTED BY: George Spenton-Foster
WRITTEN BY: Robert Holmes
BROADCAST ON: 20/03/1979
Denis Carey (Docholli) Professor Chronotis in Shada, the Keeper in The Keeper of Traken and the old man in Timelash.
Aubrey Woods (Krantor) Day of the Daleks: The Controller#
John Leeson (Toise) K9 in the Invisible Enemy Onwards
Sylvia Coleridge (Croupier) Seeds of Doom: Amelia Ducat
Deep Roy (Klute) Talons of Weng Chiang: Mister Sin
Paul Grist (Cevedic) Claws of Axos: Bill Filer
EPISODE: B12 The Keeper
DIRECTED BY: Derek Martinus
WRITTEN BY: Allan Prior
BROADCAST ON: 27/03/1979
Bruce Purchase (Gola) Pirate Planet: The Captain
Arthur Hewlett (Old man) State of Decay: Kalmar and Terror of the Vervoids: Kimber
Ron Tarr (Patrol leader) Destiny of the Daleks: Prisoner
EPISODE: B13 Star One
DIRECTED BY: David Maloney
WRITTEN BY: Chris Boucher
BROADCAST ON: 03/04/1979
Gareth Armstrong (Parton) Masque of Mandragora: Giuliano
Michael Spice (Nova Queen Pilot ) Brain of Monster: Voice of Morbius & Talons of Weng-Chiang: Magnus Greel
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 445
STORY NUMBER: 090
TRANSMITTED: 05 February 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Michael Briant
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who Revisitations 3 (The Tomb of the Cybermen and the Robots of Death)
The Doctor survives by using a blowpipe to breathe and is rescued & captured by supervisor SV7 who identifies the body as Kerral. Leela works her way back to the room they were captured in where she finds Cass' body and is grabbed by a black robot, D84, who interrogates her before turning her over to Commander Uvanov who tells her that D class Dum robots can't speak. Both are taken to the crew room while the crew argue. Few of them even begin to believe the Doctor's story. A robot is instructed by an unseen human to kill Zilda as the Doctor & Leela are imprisoned in the robot storage bay. Poul visits them, but Leela is wary because "he moves like a hunter". The Doctor tells Poul he believes a robot could have killed them in violation of the robotic laws. He frees them to assist him and they re-enact Chub's murder with Poul realising he would need to summon a robot to help him with his task. Zilda breaks into Uvanov's quarters and is distressed by documents she finds, accusing Uvanov of murder. When Poul arrives he finds Uvanov standing over Zilda's dead body. Poul assumes Uvanov killed her and has him confined to quarters, with Toos taking command. The Sandminer's motors jam & overload causing it to rock violently. The Doctor & Leela come to the bridge as Dask reports to Toos that Borg is dead. Toos orders the motors shut down but the robots are unable to comply as the readings head way over the safety margins pushing the Sandminer closer towards exploding.
To paraphrase The Mary Whitehouse Experience: "Dead, Dead, Dead, Chub died first." They're dropping like flies in this story the order being Chub, Kerral (did we even see him alive?), Cass, Zilda & Borg. As far as we know there's just Uvanov, Poul, Toos & Dask left alive so, unless there's someone else on the sandminer we've not seen yet, one of them must be responsible for ordering the robots to kill. Which one is it? Effectively it's Doctor Who's version of a murder mystery, with Ten Little Indians/And Then There Were None frequently sighted as an influence.
Oh look, there's our old friends, the computer panels from UFO again on the sandminer bridge!
Among the departed in this episode is Brian Croucher, here playing Borg, who was Travis in the second series of Blake's 7. So it's time to look at that second series and see who else we know that was involved. Still at the helm as producer & script editor are David Maloney, who'll be directing the next Doctor Who story that we watch, and Chris Boucher, who wrote this one and it's predecessor The Face of Evil.
EPISODE: B1 Redemption
DIRECTED BY: Vere Lorrimer
WRITTEN BY: Terry Nation
BROADCAST ON: 09/01/1979
Sheila Ruskin (Alta One) The Keeper of Traken: Kassia
Harriet Philpin (Alta Two) Genesis of the Daleks: Bettan
Roy Evans (Slave) The Daleks' Master Plan as Trantis, The Green Death as Bert & The Monster of Peladon as a miner
EPISODE: B2 Shadow
DIRECTED BY: Jonathan Wright Miller
WRITTEN BY: Chris Boucher
BROADCAST ON: 16/01/1979
Vernon Dobtcheff (Chairman) The War Games: Chief Scientist
EPISODE: B3 Weapon
DIRECTED BY: George Spenton-Foster Director: The Image of the Fendal & The Ribos Operation
WRITTEN BY: Chris Boucher
BROADCAST ON: 23/01/1979
John Bennett (Coser) Invasion of the Dinosaurs: General Finch & Talons of Weng Chiang as Li H'sen Chang
Scott Fredericks (Carnell) Day of the Daleks: Boaz & Image of the Fendahl: Maximilian Stael
EPISODE: B4 Horizon
DIRECTED BY: Jonathan Wright Miller
WRITTEN BY: Allan Prior
BROADCAST ON: 30/01/1979
William Squire (Kommissar) The Armageddon Factor: The Shadow
Brian Miller (Assistant Kommissar) Snakedance: Dugdale and Resurrection of the Daleks & Remembrance of the Daleks: Dalek voices. Married to Elizabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith)
EPISODE: B5 Pressure Point
DIRECTED BY: George Spenton-Foster
WRITTEN BY: Terry Nation
BROADCAST ON: 06/02/1979
Jane Sherwin (Kasabi) The War Games: Lady Jennifer Buckingham. Former Script Editor/Producer Derrick Sherwin's wife.
Yolande Palfrey (Veron) Trial of a Timelord 9-12 (Terror of the Vervoids): Janet
EPISODE: B6 Trial
DIRECTED BY: Derek Martinus Directed: Galaxy Four, Mission to the Unknown, The Tenth Planet, The Evil of the Daleks, The Ice Warriors & Spearhead from Space
WRITTEN BY: Chris Boucher
BROADCAST ON: 13/02/1979
John Savident (Samor) The Visitation: The Squire
Peter Miles (Rontane) Dr. Lawrence in Doctor Who and the Silurians, Professor Whitaker in Invasion of the Dinosaurs & Nyder in Genesis of the Daleks
EPISODE: B7 Killer
DIRECTED BY: Vere Lorrimer
WRITTEN BY: Robert Holmes The Krotons, The Space Pirates, Spearhead from Space, Terror of the Autons, Carnival of Monsters, The Time Warrior, The Ark In Space, Pyramids of Mars, The Deadly Assassin, The Talons of Weng-Chiang, The Sun Makers, The Ribos Operation, The Power of Kroll, The Caves of Androzani, The Two Doctors, Trial of a Timelord 1-4: The Mysterious Planet & Trial of a Timelord 13 The Ultimate Foe.
BROADCAST ON: 20/02/1979
Morris Barry (Wiler) Directed: The Moonbase, The Tomb of the Cybermen and The Dominators. Appeared in The Creature from the Pit as Tollund
EPISODE: B8 Hostage
DIRECTED BY: Vere Lorrimer
WRITTEN BY: Allan Prior
BROADCAST ON: 27/02/1979
John Abineri (Ushton) Fury from the Deep: van Lutyens, The Ambassadors of Death: General Carrington, Death to the Daleks: Railton & The Power of Kroll: Ranquin
Kevin Stoney (Joban) Mavic Chen in The Daleks' Master Plan, Tobias Vaughn in The Invasion and Tyrum in Revenge of the Cybermen
Andrew Robertson (Space Commander) Pirate Planet: Mr Fibuli
EPISODE: B9 Countdown
DIRECTED BY: Vere Lorrimer
WRITTEN BY: Terry Nation
BROADCAST ON: 06/03/1979
Tom Chadbon (Del Grant) City of Death: Duggan & Trial of a Timelord: Murdeen
Paul Shelley (Provine) Four to Doomsday: Persuasian
EPISODE: B10
DIRECTED BY: Voice from the Past
WRITTEN BY: George Spenton-Foster
BROADCAST ON: Roger Parkes
No Doctor Who cast members involved
EPISODE: B11 Gambit
DIRECTED BY: George Spenton-Foster
WRITTEN BY: Robert Holmes
BROADCAST ON: 20/03/1979
Denis Carey (Docholli) Professor Chronotis in Shada, the Keeper in The Keeper of Traken and the old man in Timelash.
Aubrey Woods (Krantor) Day of the Daleks: The Controller#
John Leeson (Toise) K9 in the Invisible Enemy Onwards
Sylvia Coleridge (Croupier) Seeds of Doom: Amelia Ducat
Deep Roy (Klute) Talons of Weng Chiang: Mister Sin
Paul Grist (Cevedic) Claws of Axos: Bill Filer
EPISODE: B12 The Keeper
DIRECTED BY: Derek Martinus
WRITTEN BY: Allan Prior
BROADCAST ON: 27/03/1979
Bruce Purchase (Gola) Pirate Planet: The Captain
Arthur Hewlett (Old man) State of Decay: Kalmar and Terror of the Vervoids: Kimber
Ron Tarr (Patrol leader) Destiny of the Daleks: Prisoner
EPISODE: B13 Star One
DIRECTED BY: David Maloney
WRITTEN BY: Chris Boucher
BROADCAST ON: 03/04/1979
Gareth Armstrong (Parton) Masque of Mandragora: Giuliano
Michael Spice (Nova Queen Pilot ) Brain of Monster: Voice of Morbius & Talons of Weng-Chiang: Magnus Greel
Thursday, 9 February 2012
444 The Robots of Death Part One
EPISODE: The Robots of Death Part One
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 444
STORY NUMBER: 090
TRANSMITTED: 29 January 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Michael Briant
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who Revisitations 3 (The Tomb of the Cybermen and the Robots of Death)
On a giant robotic sandminer, crewed by Robots under the supervision of a small group of humans, Commander Uvanov is pursuing a mineral rich storm when it is discovered that one of the crew, the scientist Chubb, has been murdered by being strangled. The Tardis materialises in on of the sand scoops, and the Doctor & Leela are saved from being killed when Uvanov reluctantly aborts the pursuit of the storm to investigate the death. The Doctor & Leela are captured by the robots and locked up but quickly escape. They try to return to the Tardis but are separated with Leela finding Chubb's body being kept in a store room while the Doctor finds a second body in a sand scoop. As he investigates the scoop starts to fill with sand burying him and the body.
Oh that's fabulous. The script is great, dropping in little details to illustrate the society the people are from and their relationships. The acting is fine all round. The way it's shot looks superb: a CSO insert of the bridge set inside the model sandminer, an aerial shot in the console room (sadly the last appearance of the secondary control room which warped in storage rendering it unusable) and the robot point of view shot as it kills Chubb. And we get one of the greatest double entendres in Doctor Who
Loads of the cast in this story are known from elsewhere: Russell Hunter, playing Commander Uvanov is famous for playing Lonely in Callan. Toos is played by Pamela Salem who we've just heard as a Xoanon voice in Face of Evil. She'll be back as Professor Rachel Jensen in Remembrance of the Daleks. If you're about my age you may remember her as Belor in Into the Labryinth. She was also Moneypenny in the "unofficial" James Bond film ,Never Say Never Again. Likewise we also heard Rob Edwards, seen briefly here as Chub, as another Xoanon voice in Face of Evil.
Robot D84, one of the pair that find the Doctor & Leela, is played by Gregory de Polnay. He's not got any Doctor Who credits to his name but was in former script editor Terrance Dicks's Space 1999 episode The Lamda Factor.
Like many of the rest of the cast the actor playing chief robot SV7, Miles Fothergill, has a Blake's 7 credit on his CV: he was in The Web as Novara while David Bailie, playing Dask was in Project Avalon as Chevney. David Collings, as Poul was previously Vorus in Revenge of the Cybermen and will be Mawdryn in Mawdryn Undead as well as being famous for playing Silver in Sapphire & Steel. He was also Legolas in Radio 4's Lord of the Rings and, yes, was in Blake's 7 too: he appears in the final episode Blake as Deva. Finally Brian Croucher as Borg is the second Travis in the second season of Blake's 7 which means it's time tomorrow for another look at Doctor Who Cast & Crew in Blake's 7 this time, rather fortunately, looking at season 2.
This episode marks the start of our longest run of episodes so far in one format: the last 10 of Season 14, all 26 of Season 15, all 26 of Season 16 and the first 12 of Season 17 making 74 consecutive episodes. Later on this year, with the release of Face of Evil, the run will stretch all the way back to Planet of Evil 1, a huge 112 episodes!
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 444
STORY NUMBER: 090
TRANSMITTED: 29 January 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Michael Briant
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: DVD: Doctor Who Revisitations 3 (The Tomb of the Cybermen and the Robots of Death)
On a giant robotic sandminer, crewed by Robots under the supervision of a small group of humans, Commander Uvanov is pursuing a mineral rich storm when it is discovered that one of the crew, the scientist Chubb, has been murdered by being strangled. The Tardis materialises in on of the sand scoops, and the Doctor & Leela are saved from being killed when Uvanov reluctantly aborts the pursuit of the storm to investigate the death. The Doctor & Leela are captured by the robots and locked up but quickly escape. They try to return to the Tardis but are separated with Leela finding Chubb's body being kept in a store room while the Doctor finds a second body in a sand scoop. As he investigates the scoop starts to fill with sand burying him and the body.
Oh that's fabulous. The script is great, dropping in little details to illustrate the society the people are from and their relationships. The acting is fine all round. The way it's shot looks superb: a CSO insert of the bridge set inside the model sandminer, an aerial shot in the console room (sadly the last appearance of the secondary control room which warped in storage rendering it unusable) and the robot point of view shot as it kills Chubb. And we get one of the greatest double entendres in Doctor Who
First we'll find the Tardis and then we'll have a little scout roundMy friend Naomi (she who refuses to watch Planet of the Spiders) once told me that her earliest memory of Doctor Who was the Doctor drowning in baked beans. We're pretty sure she's talking about the end of this episode.
Loads of the cast in this story are known from elsewhere: Russell Hunter, playing Commander Uvanov is famous for playing Lonely in Callan. Toos is played by Pamela Salem who we've just heard as a Xoanon voice in Face of Evil. She'll be back as Professor Rachel Jensen in Remembrance of the Daleks. If you're about my age you may remember her as Belor in Into the Labryinth. She was also Moneypenny in the "unofficial" James Bond film ,Never Say Never Again. Likewise we also heard Rob Edwards, seen briefly here as Chub, as another Xoanon voice in Face of Evil.
Robot D84, one of the pair that find the Doctor & Leela, is played by Gregory de Polnay. He's not got any Doctor Who credits to his name but was in former script editor Terrance Dicks's Space 1999 episode The Lamda Factor.
Like many of the rest of the cast the actor playing chief robot SV7, Miles Fothergill, has a Blake's 7 credit on his CV: he was in The Web as Novara while David Bailie, playing Dask was in Project Avalon as Chevney. David Collings, as Poul was previously Vorus in Revenge of the Cybermen and will be Mawdryn in Mawdryn Undead as well as being famous for playing Silver in Sapphire & Steel. He was also Legolas in Radio 4's Lord of the Rings and, yes, was in Blake's 7 too: he appears in the final episode Blake as Deva. Finally Brian Croucher as Borg is the second Travis in the second season of Blake's 7 which means it's time tomorrow for another look at Doctor Who Cast & Crew in Blake's 7 this time, rather fortunately, looking at season 2.
This episode marks the start of our longest run of episodes so far in one format: the last 10 of Season 14, all 26 of Season 15, all 26 of Season 16 and the first 12 of Season 17 making 74 consecutive episodes. Later on this year, with the release of Face of Evil, the run will stretch all the way back to Planet of Evil 1, a huge 112 episodes!
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
443 The Face of Evil Part Four
EPISODE: The Face of Evil Part Four
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 443
STORY NUMBER: 089
TRANSMITTED: 22 January 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Pennant Roberts
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: VHS: Doctor Who The Face of Evil but The Face Of Evil DVD is due soon!
The Tesh & the Sevateem battle as the Doctor confronts Xoanon. He tries to compare the computer but Xoanon triggers a countdown to an atomic explosion. The Doctor is opposed by Tesh & Sevateem that have fallen under Xoanon's control but when Neeva is killed fighting off Xoanon's monsters he interrupts Xoanon's control allowing the Doctor to complete his work causing Xoanon's circuits to explode. Coming round two days later he speaks with the repaired Xoanon who is now trying to work with the united Sevateem & Tesh. The Doctor leaves in the Tardis, accompanied by Leela.
Couldn't care by this point. Really couldn't. There's some great ideas here but the execution is horrible. Worst fourth Doctor story yet. Fortunately there's better stuff just round the corner.
Given the team's recent encounter with Mary Whitehouse and the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association you can understand why the title was changed from the original "The Day God Went Mad".
We get yet another Xoanon voice in this episode from Roy Herrick who was Jean in The Reign of Terror and will shortly be Parsons in The Invisible Enemy.
Face of Evil was novelised by Terrance Dicks and released on video in 1999. Fairly typically for this blog (Colony in Space, Invasion of the Dinosaurs) but it's due out on DVD not long after this is published! (March 5th 2012)
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 443
STORY NUMBER: 089
TRANSMITTED: 22 January 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Pennant Roberts
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: VHS: Doctor Who The Face of Evil but The Face Of Evil DVD is due soon!
The Tesh & the Sevateem battle as the Doctor confronts Xoanon. He tries to compare the computer but Xoanon triggers a countdown to an atomic explosion. The Doctor is opposed by Tesh & Sevateem that have fallen under Xoanon's control but when Neeva is killed fighting off Xoanon's monsters he interrupts Xoanon's control allowing the Doctor to complete his work causing Xoanon's circuits to explode. Coming round two days later he speaks with the repaired Xoanon who is now trying to work with the united Sevateem & Tesh. The Doctor leaves in the Tardis, accompanied by Leela.
Couldn't care by this point. Really couldn't. There's some great ideas here but the execution is horrible. Worst fourth Doctor story yet. Fortunately there's better stuff just round the corner.
Given the team's recent encounter with Mary Whitehouse and the National Viewers' and Listeners' Association you can understand why the title was changed from the original "The Day God Went Mad".
We get yet another Xoanon voice in this episode from Roy Herrick who was Jean in The Reign of Terror and will shortly be Parsons in The Invisible Enemy.
Face of Evil was novelised by Terrance Dicks and released on video in 1999. Fairly typically for this blog (Colony in Space, Invasion of the Dinosaurs) but it's due out on DVD not long after this is published! (March 5th 2012)
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
442 The Face of Evil Part Three
EPISODE: The Face of Evil Part Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 442
STORY NUMBER: 089
TRANSMITTED: 15 January 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Pennant Roberts
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: VHS: Doctor Who The Face of Evil but The Face Of Evil DVD is due soon!
Venturing through the mouth the Doctor & Leela find a spaceship and meet it's occupants the Tesh. The Tesh & the Sevateem are descendants of the original crew: The Tesh from the technicians that stayed with the ship and the Sevateem from the survey team that went to survey the planet. Xoanon is the ship's computer repaired long ago by the Doctor but now suffering from a split personality. It has been conducting a eugenics experiment using the Sevateem & Tesh and has now sent the monsters to kill the Sevateem. Using the communications equipment to speak to the high priest Neeva the Doctor summons the Sevateem through the mouth of the stone face. The Doctor goes to confront Xoanon but is mentally assaulted by the computer forced to the floor as it bellows "who am I?"
That's one big information dump trying to explain what's going on. The concepts are good but the execution, especially those appalling Tesh uniforms and make-up, lets it down.
Two of the Xoanon voices are provided by actors from the next story:Rob Edwards and Pamela Salem are both in Robots of Death as Chubb & Toos respectively with Salem returning as Professor Rachel Jensen in Remembrance of the Daleks. A third voice is provided by Tom Baker and the fourth by Anthony Frieze, the winner of a competition to visit the Doctor Who studios.
So when did the Doctor first come to the planet? A question that has exercised many fans' minds over the years. Some suggest a trip soon after his regeneration during Robot. I'm not sure that quite works, I can't see a suitable point for it to have happened. A better scenario would be (see Pyramids of Mars 3) for the Doctor to have dropped Sarah off in 1975 at the end of Planet of Evil, had some adventures including his earlier visit here, and then picked her up again in 1980 thus fixing the UNIT Dating problems in one swoop. A third option involves adventures between Deadly Assassin and here. This idea appeals to me: not only does The Doctor leave Gallifrey alone but he arrives here alone: who knows how long he'd been travelling for by himself? Centuries even. From this point on the Doctor doesn't refer to UNIT and recently seen events, from our point of view, so much so it's plausible that a large amount of time may have passed for him. The show taking a break between these two stories as well makes it all the more tempting to imagine that all sorts of things may have happened between them that we don't see.
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 442
STORY NUMBER: 089
TRANSMITTED: 15 January 1977
WRITER: Chris Boucher
DIRECTOR: Pennant Roberts
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: VHS: Doctor Who The Face of Evil but The Face Of Evil DVD is due soon!
Venturing through the mouth the Doctor & Leela find a spaceship and meet it's occupants the Tesh. The Tesh & the Sevateem are descendants of the original crew: The Tesh from the technicians that stayed with the ship and the Sevateem from the survey team that went to survey the planet. Xoanon is the ship's computer repaired long ago by the Doctor but now suffering from a split personality. It has been conducting a eugenics experiment using the Sevateem & Tesh and has now sent the monsters to kill the Sevateem. Using the communications equipment to speak to the high priest Neeva the Doctor summons the Sevateem through the mouth of the stone face. The Doctor goes to confront Xoanon but is mentally assaulted by the computer forced to the floor as it bellows "who am I?"
That's one big information dump trying to explain what's going on. The concepts are good but the execution, especially those appalling Tesh uniforms and make-up, lets it down.
Two of the Xoanon voices are provided by actors from the next story:Rob Edwards and Pamela Salem are both in Robots of Death as Chubb & Toos respectively with Salem returning as Professor Rachel Jensen in Remembrance of the Daleks. A third voice is provided by Tom Baker and the fourth by Anthony Frieze, the winner of a competition to visit the Doctor Who studios.
So when did the Doctor first come to the planet? A question that has exercised many fans' minds over the years. Some suggest a trip soon after his regeneration during Robot. I'm not sure that quite works, I can't see a suitable point for it to have happened. A better scenario would be (see Pyramids of Mars 3) for the Doctor to have dropped Sarah off in 1975 at the end of Planet of Evil, had some adventures including his earlier visit here, and then picked her up again in 1980 thus fixing the UNIT Dating problems in one swoop. A third option involves adventures between Deadly Assassin and here. This idea appeals to me: not only does The Doctor leave Gallifrey alone but he arrives here alone: who knows how long he'd been travelling for by himself? Centuries even. From this point on the Doctor doesn't refer to UNIT and recently seen events, from our point of view, so much so it's plausible that a large amount of time may have passed for him. The show taking a break between these two stories as well makes it all the more tempting to imagine that all sorts of things may have happened between them that we don't see.
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