The TARDIS materializes underneath a giant glacial layer to find where the Doctor,Jamie and Victoria discover a huge plastic bio dome that-once they enter after two apparent scavengers exit the building encloses a building that even Victoria remarks resembles something from her own 19th century. Upon arriving in a computer control area they find a panicked Leader Clent,along with fellow operator Miss Garrett who are about to experience an overload of a fusion reactor they are using to power an ionizing device. The doctor helps them to alleviate the disaster. And he discovers along the way the reason why the disaster itself occurred.
Both Clent and Garrett are part of a team operating this ionizer in order to melt away the glaciers that threaten the UK which they are apparently in and the rest of the world. This is the result of a second ice age humanity created in error when they invented a synthetic food and destroyed all the plant life to house the growing population. Without carbon monoxide,the Earth became devoid of life and entered into a second ice age. Meanwhile Arden,a scientist working with Clent discovered what he believed to be some sort of cave man under such a glacier and enthusiastically returned it to the dome for investigation.
After observing the creature,the doctor realizes that this is actually an ancient astronaut with no terrestrial origins and that what they believed to be head armor was actually a sophisticated space helmet. Meanwhile in the dome's lab,Victoria is being menaced by this Ice Warrior who identifies his origin point as being Mars,and wants to know what Victoria knows of his crashed spaceship and crew. He takes her hostage and,when the doctor discovers this he sends Arden and Jamie out to rescue her from the talons of the Ice Warriors who abducted her.
While Arden and Jamie find the Ice Warrior's ship frozen in the ice,they are shot by one of them-leaving Arden dead and Jamie severely injured. Having failed already in numerous attempts to escape the Ice Warriors,Victoria pretends to agree to help them by contact Clent in order to reveal the location of the ionizer,which they believe is going to be used to destroy them and whose fusion fuel they intend to use to refuel their spaceship. In the meantime Jamie is dragged away by Penley,a scientist who left Clent behind on a matter of difference and the scavenger Storr-who distrusts science altogether.
During an attempt to return Jamie to the base,Penley escapes an attempt from Miss Garrett to sway him into helping the mechanized mind Clent into stabilizing the ionizer permanently. Meanwhile Storr journey's to the Ice Warrior's spaceship in an attempt to convince them that he is allied with them against Clent and his fellow scientists. He too is killed the the Ice Warriors. Having heard Victoria's plea,the doctor has now joined her and attempts to use a "stink bomb" toxic to the Ice Warriors to fascinate an escape attempt. Narrowly making it out, the doctor realizes the Ice Warrior's highly liquefied body makeup and devises a possible new defense for Clent and his base.
Returning to the base where Clent is futally trying to reason with Ice Warrior Varga,the doctor manages to alter the oxygen and gravity level in the computer area in such a way that Ice Warriors,
including the callous and threatening Varga, are all destroyed with minimal physical damage to Clent and his team. With the recovered Penley's knowledge of the "Omega Factor" at hand,he is able to cooperate with Clent and the doctor enough to save the faltering fusion ionizer and their mission. While Clent and Penley finally come to an agreement,they find the doctor and his companions have disappeared (back to the TARDIS) before they have a chance to thank him.
There are many layers to this densely written (some more cynical critics might say convoluted) 1967 story. The Ice Warriors place absolutely no value on human life and morals-only seeing what they need and what threatens them. They are even impassive to the constantly crying,screaming and understandably frightened Victoria's pleas to return to the doctor and Jamie. There is also Leader Clent-with almost an addiction (along with his employee Miss Garrett) to the need of their computer that has made all of their decisions for them,yet is faltering fast at the abundance of inconsistencies clouding its logic.
The basic plot of the story actually addresses the early stirrings of the global warming concept effected humanity today in real life. And again,with the more well rounded approach of the scientist Penley,the enthusiasts approach of Arden and the agrarian Storr are also ahead of their time as they showcase possible alternate sides on the fictional climate change and mind-over-machine dilemma faced in this story. Miss Garrett tries to be the calm middle ground. But in the end remains loyal to Clent and his computer. So it is the doctor and Penley who end up representing balanced scientific rationalism in dealing with both Clent's ionizer dilemma and the Ice Warrior's intrusion in this compelling and futuristically topical story.
The doctor,Polly,Ben and newest arrival Jamie end up being drawn by a massive gravitational field to Earth's moon,while on the way to the planet Mars. After Ben and Polly insist on going to investigate what has occurred,the doctor and Jamie join them in spacesuits bouncing across the lunar surface where they come upon a Moonbase. On the way,Jamie is injured while enjoying the anti gravity experience. When they arrive they meet a Dr. Hobeson and his team. They discover not only that it is the year 2070 but that this base is in fact home of the Gravitron, a device that uses a massive gravitational field to control Earth's weather from the Lunar surface.
Unfortunately the base has been beset by some enormous setbacks,especially with their already high pressure assignment. An unusual plague has caused some of Hobeson's team,including the doctor,which causes black veins to appear on their bodies and for them to lose consciousness. Not only that but the Gravitron is experiencing a series of unexpected malfunctions and Hobeson's team are quickly losing control of the device. While himself recovering from his injuries in the bases infirmary with the other plague patients,Jamie observes to Polly and the doctor he has seen a mysterious "phantom piper" as his companions try to help Hobeson deal with the plague.
Dismissing Jamie's claims as delirium, Hobeson and his team are further pressured to repair the Gravitron by Earth despite their confusion. When another member of the team is compromised, Hobeson begins to suspect the doctor and his companions of all the trouble based on the timing of their arrival and that of the malfunctions and,when confronting them on the matter the doctor ushers them away. Shortly after Polly sees what she recognizes as a Cybermen lurking behind the infirmary. When she informs the doctor and Hobeson, he doesn't believe her claims.
Still believing the doctor is somehow involved,he realizes Polly is correct when the doctor deduces when Gravitron operator Evans falls prey to the strange virus during a coffee break. Deducing it came from the sugar used,the doctor takes samples from Evans and finds a Neurotropic virus capable of altering the human nervous system. Meanwhile, the patients of the supposed plague are being taken to a nearby Cyberman vessel and outfitted with devices by which the Cybermen are able to control their movements. Realizing this,the doctor mobilizes the team to find a solution.
Trapped in the infirmary with Ben,Polly suddenly remembers the Cybermen's plastic chest units,and that her nail polish is made of plastic. So she and Ben gather the necessary polymer thinning chemicals from the lab and construct a high octane liquid thinning agent Ben dubs "Polly Cocktail"-with which they disable the invading Cybermen guarding the infirmary so they can assist the doctor and Hobeson further. After a number of failed attempts to keep the Cybermen out,they attempt to extinguish the personnel of the base by breaching it's bio dome with lasers. Unfortunately an Earth rescue ship sent to stop the Cybermen and rescue Hobeson's team are re-directed by the Cybermen controlled Gravitron and sent on a direct course for the sun.
They also manage to regain control of Evans and use him to sabotage the Gravitron and deactivate the security systems-the Cybermen's intent being to use the device to purge the Earth of all biological life. Once Hobeson and teammate Benoit manage to successfully seal one of the Cybermen's breach,the doctor suggests the Gravitron be reversed and set against the lunar surface. When this is done,the Cybermen and their ship are blow off the Lunar surface with their ships. After departing in the TARDIS,the doctor and his companions soon find themselves set upon by the disturbing image of a Crab-like claw. A Macra.
I've seen it written many times that that fourth series of Doctor Who,the first to fully feature Patrick Troughton as the doctor overused the "base under siege" plot line. At the same time this story is an extremely successful one and one of my favorite of the second doctor era. With the visually missing first and third parts brilliantly animated by the same team who did the same for The Reign Of Terror. The idea of a multi cultural human team coming together to use gravitational fields to better stabilize Earth's weather systems is a very captivating one. The possible reality of human politics and need causing this to be a high stress environment adds great drama to the story as well as pointed social commentary.
While there is one very embarrassing effect of two Cybermen flying saucers landing with completely obvious marionette strings attached,not to even mention a few sexist jibes at Polly from Ben Jackson this story actually features some interesting elements. For her part Polly emerges as a strong companion-using know how and science to develop her nail polish like cocktail to disable the Cybermen-as well as assisting as part of the medical staff and still have time to make the coffee. The doctor reveals a possible ability to have an inner dialog with some type of auxiliary brain in his head-a concept not fully explored in the series from this point on. Since it is the only available entry from season 4 of the series thus far,this emerges as a strong and satisfying story all things considered.
During a scan by a group of scientists Adam Colby,Max Stael,Thea Ransom and Doctor Fendelman are doing on an ancient humanoid skull found on an archaeological dig in Kenya the TARDIS is shaken by an intense sonic time scanner. Ransom meanwhile has been taken over by an energy emitting from the skull. When the doctor finds out it originates on Earth he and Leela journey their to prevent that energy from creating a continuum explosion that would destroy the planet. Arriving in the village of Fetchborough where the scientists have been staying,the doctor and Leela first encounter a local named Ted Moss-who directs them into the town. Adam has discovered a corpse meanwhile that Fendelman wants kept away from the authorities. The doctor and Leela meanwhile set upon the home of Martha Tyler,a local mystic with apparent psychic abilities and her son Jack. By this time Mitchell,a member of local law enforcement who arrived to help protect the town,is killed the same way as the body that Adam had discovered was: drained to the point of becoming an empty husk. While searching the area during the night,the doctor himself encounters what he believes the source of the energy that is causing the potential implosion.
The doctor enters Fendelman's lab,where the scientists are in conflict over the fact that Fendelman wishes to keep their discovery a secret from the superstitious townspeople such as Moss and Mrs. Tyler,
and finds Thea Ransom unconscious and surrounded covered in two creatures he reveals to Adam as being Fendahleen,embryonic servant creatures to the Fendahl,a life form out of Gallifreyan mythology who literally fed on the energy force of all life around it to sustain itself. The doctor surmises,correctly as Fendelman soon explains that the creature-whom the time lords supposedly destroyed on the Fifth Planet to avoid it spreading had psychically projected itself onto developing humanity. Unbeknownst to him,thinking he'd been making a great evolutionary discovery about humanity,had inadvertently created the sonic time scanner which had now taken over the mind of Thea Ransom-who was being used as a conduit for the re-emerging Fendahl. After narrowly escaping one of the Fendahleen,Martha Tyler goes into psychic shock that the doctor helps her to emerge from,having himself narrowing escaped the influence of the Fendahl on his mind.
Meanwhile Adam,Fendalman and Thea Ransom have been kidnapped by Stael,who as it turns out is actually a member of the local black magic coven along with Moss. He places Thea on a large pentagram-actually having been created by humanity since it and originated as part of the skeletal makeup of the original excavated skull.It is at this point,even to his surprise she transforms into a golden humanoid who is actually the incomplete Fendahl core-who kills Fendelman and Moss to sustain itself-after which Stael promptly commits suicide due to his failure of judgement. The doctor and Leela,after escaping a telepathic Fendahleen that nearly costs Leela,Jack and Martha Tyler their ability to walk are able to rescue Adam from the Fendahl core Thea has transformed into. Upon learning in their encounter with the Fendahleen that simple salt has an adverse affect on them,the doctor asks Mrs. Tyler to gather as much salt as she can so he and Leela can use it to weaken the core-while Adam prepares to destroy the building and its sonic time scanner to prevent the Fendahl's further escape in lieu of he and the Tylers making a fast getaway to her home. Following this the doctor and Leela return to the TARDIS to take the original skull containing the Fendahl to the core of a supernova-whose energy the doctor is sure that even the Fendahl cannot withstand.
Doctor Who has always championed the idea of knowledge and truth over fear and terror in its very essence. This is one of those stories that deals with this concept front and center. The attitudes of Fendalman and his fellow scientists towards the seemingly superstitious townspeople of Fetchborough reflects this vividly. And as it turns out,characters such as Martha Tyler turn out to have the upper hand because they understand the form of what's happening but are dealing more with incomplete scientific knowledge than ignorance. The very idea of the grim reaper-like Fendahl effecting everything from family names,cultural traits to the pentagram itself is a story line that has since become the foot of just about all conspiracy theory-based science fiction/fantasy television stories about humanity having originated from an extra terrestrial source. In this serial that subject matter is treated with a vital blend of intelligence and sensitivity. It's the seemingly superstitious locals of Fetchborough who
end up being the heroes of this story along with the doctor and Leela-taking action to help stop the Fendahl's parasitic influence as opposed to attempting to criminally hide the truth as the rather unethical Fendelman team are doing.
While visiting Victorian era London in order for Leela to learn about her ancestors social customs-in particular the theater of the time. After the nights performance at the Palace Theater,the Chinese illusionist Li H'Shen Chang is set upon by a man whose wife had gone missing,one of a number of women in London who'd met with this face recently,and that her last whereabouts had been in the presence of Chang. On their way to the theater,the doctor and Leela find themselves taken in by the police after witnessing the murder of a cab driver-actually the man who'd just visited Chang, at the hands of a group of Chinese men. During questioning Chang is bought in as an interpreter of events-during which time a vile of scorpion venom given by him to one of the suspects reveals a tattoo on the suspects arm to the doctor as belonging to the tong of the black scorpion-devoted followers of the ancient Chinese god Weng Chiang.
Following this the doctor and Leela consult with the local pathologist Professor Litefoot. With his help in using his home as a base of operations,the doctor and Leela manage to track these specific murdering
of women to Chang himself who has been taking women-mostly of them volunteers in his magic act,who has been taking them to the hideaway of an individual who he is convinced is Weng-Chiang himself. He is using the life forces of these women as sustenance . But he than chastises Chang for not meeting up with his very specific instructions. The doctor and Leela face up to enormous rats that feed off of human flesh in the city's sewer system-while the Palace Theater's owner Henry Gordon Jago attempts to assist the doctor in tracking down the mysterious Weng-Chiang-who is continuing to abduct women and has made off with an ancient cabinet Litefoot had in his home,having been raised in China by a colonialist family.
The doctor,Leela and Jago eventually end up following Chang to one of his performances at the Palace-where an attempt to kill the doctor backfires when one of his tricks lead to the revealing of the murder of one of the theaters employees. Not guilty of this murder,Chang goes on the lamb only to be dragged away. With the help of Litefoot,the doctor and Leela find Chang half dead from injuries at an opium den. He tells them that Weng Chiang presented himself as a god upon arrival-with Chang serving him with the women whose life force was his very survival. But Chang was betrayed and gives the doctor a Chinese Puzzle that reveals the local of his former master. Meanwhile Professor Litefoot and Jago have discovered a case of strange ephemera. When the doctor arrives he discovers an object he recognizes as the key to a time cabinet-part of a failed time travel experiment from a 51'st century war using unstable Zigma rays.
When Jago and Litefoot are held captive by Weng-Chiang,Leela finds herself gagged when set upon by the deformed Chiang himself. The doctor arrives and agrees to a barter to spare provide Chiang with the time cabinet key in exchange for the safety of Leela,Litefoot and Jago. And he demands that Chiang lead him to his palace. Once there the doctor learns Chiang is really Magnus Greel,an unethical scientist attempting to restore himself to life using the same unstable methods he had in his own time. The doctor rescues Leela from this fate while they,along with Jago and Litefoot,escape the laser eyed dragon head used by the Peking Homunculus-a murderous cyborg whose mind is that of a pig that almost caused World War Six in the future. The doctor manages to disconnect him while throwing the weakened Greel into his own chamber-which de-molecularizes him. Following this,and a leisurely journey with Litefoot and Jago to buy muffins,the pair thankfully bid the doctor and Leela farewell as they depart in the TARDIS.
During its time,this has become one of the most controversial Doctor Who serial. The Canadian National Council For Equality apparently found this story so offensive that Canada and many stations in North America refused to carry the episode. I can certainly see why this might be. Li H'Shen Chang is portrayed as a villainous and deceptive character-using powers given to him by Greel to manipulate his victims. In addition to being portrayed by an English actor,those portrayed by Asian actors are the characters of hoodlums-members of the Tong Gang. Racial slurs and continual derogatory language abound in the dialog as well. Strange as this might be for a show that defines itself by a strong,universal moral code,it somehow seems totally appropriate to me given the Victorian English setting-where the Chinese were vilified and viewed only in stereotypical terms. The doctors wittily expressed condensation towards this racial slurring would also seem to indicate the characters disapproval.
Interestingly enough outside this controversy,this really is a wonderfully placed historical murder mystery with a rare glimpse of another time traveler outside the time lords-the highly unskilled (and himself highly bigoted) Magnus Greel. Also welcomed is the presence of two contemporary companions for the doctor in this episode. Fascinated by the doctors deductive abilities and seeking a personal fortune,the jocular and pompous Henry Gordon Jago provides a wonderful comic type character-constantly afraid of his own shadow. Professor Litefoot on the other hand is an estate and adaptive individual-who deeply respects the doctor and Leela-even relaxing from his devotion to Victorian morays to eat meat with his bare hands and deducing a way to use the dumb waiter in Greel's palace to launch a jailbreak for himself and Jago. Its the juxtaposition of two opposite ends of history-along with the presence of well realized characters that make this story so wonderful and compelling.
Upon being summoned to his home world of Gallifrey,the doctor is overcome by a vision of the President elect of the Time Lords being assassinated in the center of the Panopticon-the presidential
chamber of the Time Lords capital citadel. Upon arrival the doctor notices he is being pursued by Time Lords carrying degenerative rifles called stasers. The doctor escapes the TARDIS as the guards,answering to a Castellan Spendrell,who observe that the TARDIS (or TT capsule as the Time Lords refer to it) is a highly antiquated Type 40 model. Chancellor Goth requests that the Castellan have the TARDIS moved to the citadel for further inspection. Another Time Lord named Engrin,as well as one of the doctors old instructors named Borusa,additionally observe that the doctor had previously been exiled to Earth for interfering in the laws of time and,while pardoned by them might prove a danger to the upcoming election of the new Lord President of Gallifrey.
Continually overwhelmed by his visions of the Lord Presidents assassination,the doctor borrows the robes of one of the Time Lords and enters into the Panopticon just as the president is about to be inducted. As a media reporter for the citadel (and the doctors former schoolmate) Runcible reports on the affair,the doctor attempts to warn the president of his inevitable peril. One of the delegates among them ascends to a camera with a sniper rifle and proceeds to shoot the Lord President Elect with it-as the crowd witness what appears to be the doctor on the upper level firing said sniper rifle. Despite Castellan Spendrell and Chancellor
Goth's insistence of the doctors guilt,the doctor claims innocence and that his premonition was actually motivating him to try to save the presidents life. At the doctors suggestion,Runcible investigates the camera above the Panopticon where he finds a Time Lord shrunken in size by matter compression,and is himself stabbed in the back while trying to look further.
After observing Engrin explaining the operation of the Time Lord Matrix,the doctor realize since this matrix contains the sum of all Time Lords' minds,used an interface device to enter the matrix in hopes of discovering the true nature of the assassin-who is at least known to be inside the citadel. Once in the matrix the doctor finds himself in a virtual reality-in a Safari like setting with a bounty hunter figure who tries to run over him with a train,throw him down a hill and than attempted to drown him. Though the doctor was able to overcome the hunter using his own inventiveness, the doctor reveals his opponent to actually be Goth himself. Yet he knows from the use of Matter compression that it is actually his nemesis the Master that they are facing. Upon nearly dying while connected to the Matrix,and aware that The Master's identity is not included in the matrix,the doctor now leads the Castellan and Borusa to where he believes the Master has been.
While dying inside a mental transference chamber the Master had used to have Goth interface with the matrix,Goth reveals before his death-following the last of his regeneration's that the Master had bribed Goth to assist him by the promise of becoming Lord President-something the doctor had used to his favor during his earlier trial in order to investigate the matter and prove his innocence. The doctor surmises (with Engrin's help from the Matrix library) that the Master,too nearing the end of his cycle of 12 regeneration's is planning to use The Sash Of The Great Key Of Rassilon to open the eye of harmony-a obelisk shaped power source from a black hole,as it turns out, from which all the original Time Lord's energy derived from. After facing down the Master in the citadels morgue,the Master returns to the Panopticon and gains access to the Eye Of Harmony obelisk-whose activated energy caused a massive quake in the citadel which ends after the doctor,while fighting with the master,knocks the Master into a chasm. Spendrell,Borusa and Engrin,after offering the doctor a pardon on Gallifrey,find the doctor rejecting their offer yet warning them that the Master had absorbed enough energy from the Eye Of Harmony to survive.
One of the qualities that makes gives this story its cohesion is the intensely complicated nature of the plot. A wordly political thriller,this is one of the earliest Doctor Who stories to have generated a high level of controversy from BBC censor Mary Whitehouse-who objected to episode 3 of this serial's cliffhanger which showcased the doctor being drowned by Goth while inside the matrix. This of course went against the BBC's still ongoing perception of Doctor Who as a children's program-mainly due to its time slot. That that is the core of this story in a way. The first real glimpse in the series of what the doctors home planet is like,we find an overly civilized society where even the doctors old instructor Borusa is perfectly willing to bend the truth to protect the Time Lord's insulation from the outside universe. The Master,depicted here as an insanely angry character burnt beyond recognition,is the complete opposite of Roger Delgado's characterization of the character. And this story showcases the Time Lord's inability to cope with his tyranny against them. Personally for me this story does seriously call Doctor Who's reputation in England as a children's show strongly into question-as much of the story contains more verbally weighty dialog and political intrigue than action and/or alien menaces. So this story is probably one of the original run Doctor Who stories that had a stronger appeal to the adult audiences of the show.
In the Antarctic,the doctor and Sarah Jane Smith are dispatched by a Sir Colin Thackery to investigate an biological seed pod found under the permafrost by a scientific team led by a John Stevenson. Whereas all of the other scientists believe they are dealing with an extinct plant species, the doctor has a hunch the pod is extra terrestrial in origin.One of the scientists working for him named Winlett has been penetrated by the germinated pod (whose growth had been accelerated) and has begun to mutate. After observing him,the doctor confirms his original hypothesis- announcing that they are dealing with a life form called a Krynoid-a parasitic form of flora that consumes animal lifeforms for energy. In the meantime an English millionaire named Harrison Chase dispatches one of his scientists Arnold Keeler and his lackey Scorby,with the help of of the head of the local department of ecology named Dunbar,to travel to Antarctica to retrieve the artifact by any means necessary. When the pair arrive,the find Winlett already in the advanced stages of transformation.
When the doctor determines his arm must be amputated in order to stop the parasite from spreading further,the partially transformed Winlett attacks and kills Morberly-the zoologist to have performed the operation. Scorby grows impatient and,despite Keeler's warning takes the doctor and Sarah Jane hostage after they return from searching for the escaped Winlett. When Stevenson returns,the doctor tells them that a second pod that was discovered by Stevenson is in the freezer. Once they retrieve it,Scorby insists on using an explosive to destroy the expedition and their laboratory with all hands so that there will be no witnesses to their crime. The doctor and Sarah Jane escape along with Scorby and Keeler when the expedition building explodes. Another expedition discovers Sarah Jane and the doctor and returns them to England to consult with Dunbar,who attempts to drive them to an isolated area to stay out of the way. They pair escape the driver and make their way for Harrison Chase's mansion-where they now know Scorby and Keeler will be with the Krynoid seedpod.
After covertly sneaking into Chases' mansion,they discover Chase demanding that Keeler inject the Krynoid pod with extra nitrogen to stimulate its growth. Keeler of course mutates into another Kyrnoid while Chase himself observes his reactions and growth while doing nothing at all to treat him. The doctor and Sarah meanwhile enlist the help of a local artist named Amelia Ducat-to whom Chase owes money. When the doctor and Sarah Jane become trapped in Chase's mansion after their discovery by Scorby,Ducat returns to do reconnaissance work for Thackery and Dunbar,who decides to redeem himself realizing how far Chase has gone. The expanding Krynoid life form has now become a central nucleus-transforming all plant life in the vicinity into autonomous Krynoid life forms as well.
With the carnivorous plans encroaching on the facility,Scorby makes an uneasy alliance with the Doctor and Sarah before ending up being drowned by such carnivorous flora. Finding Chase himself in a trance like state with his menagerie of plant life,the doctor realizes that Chase has become connected to the Krynoids mentally. With UNIT soldiers finally having arrived,and Sarah and the doctor having survived two of Chase's attempts to turn them into living compost,Chase ends up being thrown into the compost machine before UNIT air bombers destroy the Krynoid and Chase's mansion. After Thackery denies a journey with the doctor,Sarah Jane and the doctor depart-again not quite ending up where they were supposed to be.
One of the most emotionally charged and powerfully written stories of even this particularly strong era of Doctor Who,the main quality that thrusts this story forward is the characters and their motivations. Harrison Chase is not as clearly defined a villain as one might imagine. Every bit as cool and collected in manner as Roger Delgado's Master,this is a character who holds all animal life-humans included as being nothing more than an infestation to the plant life he obsesses upon. Dunbar and the survivalist Scorby are economically motivated by the eccentric millionaire's requests,which grow more extreme every time. Its Chase's character who provides this intense science fiction thriller with some of its most disturbing imagery-namely observing his own scientist Keeler,a noviolent man too cowardly to act on his ideals,as he suffers terribly while
transforming slowly and brutally into a Krynoid.
Though menacing,the Krynoid is presented only as advanced flora acting mostly on instinct-even acting on Chase in a manner similar to a picture plant. Therefore Harrison Chase becomes a character who has merely lost touch with all morality for the sake of his own obsession-as opposed to the stereotypical megalomaniac-type Doctor Who villain. For his part,Tom Baker portrays an unusually frightened and uncertain doctor-desperately attempting to keep the Krynoid's from infesting Earth and destroy all its animal life. He even resorts to bluffing with a firearm-one of the few times the character ever uses a gun at all. In presenting a "what if" story regarding humans often adversarial relationship with plant life,the superb writing and characters more than have the effect of allowing this story to live up to it's implied ideals.
