The Seeds of Doom: Part Two

Review of all 6 episodes:

The story here is that The Doctor and Sarah go to an Antarctic base where three scientists have discovered a form of unknown plant life buried in the snow. It has been there for many thousands of years but is of alien origin. The pods found turn out to be Krynoids, a plant which is carnivorous, parasitic, powerful and immensely fast growing. The Doctor knows this plant is a threat to all humanity but a pod is stolen by crazed millionaire Harrison Chase who is obsessed with plants.

Horror content was at its peak at this point in the series history and this story is one of the most horror based of all. There are some genuinely grim and macabre scenes which must have had children AND parents hiding behind the sofa. After having a lot of complaints during this time for being too adult and horrific, Doctor Who producers were forced to tone it down. The series, whilst still always continuing to have brilliant thrills, scares and adult qualities was never again to have quite the level of grown up thrills found in series 13 and 14. A scene where someone gets chewed up by a recycling machine is one example but there is a lot of quite gritty and dark content here and that only serves to make this a superb and memorable adventure.

This is another example of the brilliance of this era with Robert Holmes as script editor and Phillip Hinchcliffe as Producer. They created the best sustained quality I think the show has ever had. This story is just one of many top standard classics from this time and writer Robert Banks Stewart has provided a great story to follow his equally great Terror of the Zygons.

The dialogue of this story is intelligent and thoroughly enjoyable and it is delivered with superb acting by the whole cast while director Douglas Camfield again shows he is one of the finest directors the show had. The first 3 episodes in particular are tremendous and are at the highest possible standard. The engrossing science fiction/horror story and remote setting enriched with phenomenal characterisations and an alien threat makes this electrifying entertainment. The final 3 episodes are a bit less cerebral and more about monster attacks, confrontations and action but still have a tough, dark feel and the interesting human villain as well as the fun giant monster.

Right from the start when the story begins with the three research scientists in the Antarctic those three characters are all very convincingly written and acted. It is actually a shame that such a well acted part as Moberley (Michael McStay) only lasts one episode. The sinister villain Chase (the superb Tony Beckley) has a smooth, slimy, creepy menace which is really entertaining and perfectly played. His violent thug Scorby (played brilliantly by John Challis, 'Boycie' from comedy classic 'Only Fools and Horses') is far more than your average 'heavy', he is another effective and interesting villain. Dunbar, Thackeray, Keeler and Hargreaves are all also extremely well acted. In addition we also get the larger than life eccentric Amelia Ducat (Sylvia Coleridge) who adds a humour and lightness amongst the mostly serious characters. There are actually lots of wonderful, witty moments interspersed with all the drama and menace.

Tom Baker is magnificent as The Doctor. He delivers numerous witty lines with sparkling charisma whilst mostly is at the toughest and most stern we ever see him. He tells people off and barks orders one moment then makes a great joke the next, both with equal conviction. He is seen to be both selflessly heroic and the most actively tough the character has ever been. He engages in punch ups and even points a gun but this is all done so well that it works.

The suspense and shocks, intelligent, engaging script and the enjoyable action make this a true classic. Even the Krynoid, which at times shows up the limitations of the show's effects, has some great moments. The stop motion work with the giant monster and the house is actually impressive. This is a fantastic, gripping and entertaining pleasure from start to finish. A 10/10 classic that all 'Whovians' must see.

My ratings: All 6 Parts - 10/10.

This story finished off the awesome series 13 which is a front runner for best season ever along with Season 14 and just ahead of Season 12. This Hinchcliffe & Holmes run era is simply incredible standard. 23 out of the 26 episodes of Season 13 got the full 10/10 from me which is unbelievable standards over a season. Only Parts 2 to 4 of The Android Invasion failed to get full 10/10 with only Part 4 being a real disappointment for me. Any Doctor Who 'show-runner' now or in the future should aim to copy the qualities of this era as it is as good as TV gets.

My Season 13 Average Rating: 9.67/10!

At the Antarctic base camp, the Time Lord the Doctor, his Earthling companion Sarah Jane Smith, and the sole remaining scientist, botanist John Stevenson (Hubert Rees), face lethality from both animal and vegetable in Part Two of "The Seeds of Doom" as they discover that not only has geologist Charles Winlett (John Gleeson), infected by the shoot that sprang from the pod from outer space that had been dug out of the permafrost, changed from a human whose blood has turned to "vegetable soup" into what the Doctor terms a Krynoid, an ambulant, flesh-eating plant, but that the Krynoid has killed zoologist Derek Moberley (Michael McStay) and is roaming within and without the base camp.

Compounding this growing problem is the presence of a pair of strangers who arrived in their private plane claiming to have got lost during a snowstorm. Antarctica is hardly a typical tourist destination, so it is no surprise that the pair, botanist Arnold Keeler (Mark Jones) and thug Scorby (John Challis), has been dispatched by millionaire plant fanatic Harrison Chase (Tony Beckley), having been tipped to the pod by World Ecology Bureau (WEB) functionary Richard Dunbar (Kenneth Gilbert), whom Chase pays handsomely for the tip, to retrieve the pod by any means necessary---and you can bet Scorby for one believes that gives him a license to kill.

That's the juicy setup Robert Banks Stewart scripts for the second installment of this terrific six-part serial that exemplifies the excellence driven by de facto "Doctor Who" showrunners producer Philip Hinchcliffe and script editor Robert Holmes and executed with military precision by director Douglas Camfield, who blends quality model work, production designer Jeremy Bear's interior sets (modeled after the 1951 sci-fi classic "The Thing from Another World"), and the inevitable BBC rock quarry, this one in Surrey, standing in for the icy continent at the bottom of the world into a spine-tingler that ratchets the thrills right up until the explosive cliffhanger.

After attempting to masquerade as one of the scientists during a radio call by another base, Scorby quickly takes charge of the scene, capturing the Doctor and Sarah Jane first before snagging Stevenson and making him divulge the location of the second pod the Doctor discovered since Krynoid pods, like Catholic nuns and Mormon missionaries, apparently always travel in pairs. Then Scorby and Keeler depart, no longer empty-handed, effecting the transition of the narrative back to England while leaving a nasty goodbye present for the survivors.

Challis and Jones establish their characters, Challis as the cool, lethal one and Jones as the timid expert thrust into criminal circumstance against his will; note how he says "excuse me" quietly and apologetically to Rees as Keeler, acting on Scorby's order, begins to tie up Stevenson. Meanwhile, Beckley, whose Chase in Part One harangued Dunbar for not protecting plants as endangered species like WEB is doing for animals---even describing the Japanese practice of bonsai like a form of mutilation and torture---continues to establish Chase as a cold, manipulating creep, always wearing leather gloves, and, this time, referring to Dunbar, a government civil servant, as one of his "employees."

Tom Baker gets to display his puckishness---check the scene in which Scorby first captures the Doctor and Sarah Jane---as well as his resourcefulness although Elisabeth Sladen functions mostly as the damsel in distress, albeit a convincing one who displays a range of emotions. How will the Doctor and Sarah Jane get out of this one?

REVIEWER'S NOTE: What makes a review "helpful"? Every reader of course decides that for themselves. For me, a review is helpful if it explains why the reviewer liked or disliked the work or why they thought it was good or not good. Whether I agree with the reviewer's conclusion is irrelevant. "Helpful" reviews tell me how and why the reviewer came to their conclusion, not what that conclusion may be. Differences of opinion are inevitable. I don't need "confirmation bias" for my own conclusions. Do you?

Only fools and villains are so bold, to make off with the total opposite of gold, the tendrils taken grip, this climber needs a snip, devastation's taken root, starts to unfold.

The story picks up pace, as the Krynoid runs wild, and Harrison Chase's desperation for the pod means nothing will stand in his way.

The Krynoid looks awesome, and the scenes of it walking across the snow look so good. It must be one of the darkest Doctor Who stories of all time. It is so incredibly bleak, the scenes where Scorby torments Sarah Jane, and leaves her at the mercy of the Krynoid are very dark.

I love John Challis as a comedy actor, a hugely funny man, this showed how good a straight actor he was, he was menacing.

It's not often six part serials have pace and energy, they tend to have a lull, none of that present here, this is so well paced. It moves very quickly. 10/10

A thrift store Bond villain cartoonishly obsessed with plants, a carnivorous botanical monster that looks like the jello you left at the back of the fridge and a plot made of Doctor-gets-caught, Doctor-escapes cycles.

The Doctor and Sarah investigate a prehistoric seed pod found in Antarctic that, surprise surprise, turns out to be evil. Of course, none of the brilliant scientists, including the Doctor, suggest maybe not bringing it to room temperature, touching it with your bare hands or putting your face right by it, because, if you took the kind of precautions the worst scientists would take, well then, how will it infect people so that you have a story? And even when a man gets infected and grows a rubbery, body-encasing yeast infection, no one will suggest a quarantine. True, it's better to wait until he's mindless and murderous, because, I don't know, that'll make for an interesting research paper.

Seeds of Doom is the kind of chickweed of science fiction- you know it's bad, but it's more interesting to look than the plants you are told are good.

It's hard to tell the difference between the newer, adult-oriented Doctor Who and the scary-but-only-for-kids era it supposedly left behind. But, alas, the campiness has always been part of the Doctor Who appeal.

With dialogue like, "Don't resist us Scorby. You must die. All plant eaters must die!" it's hard to call the story good, but it is the bad I love.