Started 12-JunThis has an innovative plot. Mostly DW stories are mad scientist or alien invasion or Forbidden Planet but this has the distinction of a different plot.
The show depends heavily on Judith Parris as 'her' Eldrad and Stephen ("Azal"/"Omega") Thorne as 'him Eldrad. The performances are very 'big' but that's what's called for here. The story depends on this Eldrad (whatever it is) being pretty damn impressive.... and it is. Other than Eldrad the cast is very small and the drama is concentrated on the main protagonist.
The story of regenerating powerful alien rampaging on the Earth in an attempt to regenerate, return home and wreak revenge is compelling. Acting, costumes and directing serve to make this pretty damn good.
Sarah Jane as played by Elisabeth Sladen is so fantastic in this it's not funny.
The bit where she comes out of hypnosis in p2 and just rubs her nose is so real and characterful. She's like a real person. Elisabeth Sladen (Elisabeth with an S is correct) was born to be in genre TV and the world missed out when she didn't get movies or international stardom.
The leaving scene is a 7 minute epilogue the likes of which we haven't had in DW since The Bell of
Doom in 1966. It marks one of the earliest fan backlash controversies (not that it takes anything away from it.) Main criticism seems to be that the Doctor is wrong to so callously abandon Sarah on the pretext of his recall to Gallifrey. I feel that is very wrong. The Doctor **knows** that the Time Lords are likely to kidnap Sarah, wipe her memory like Jamie and Zoe and send her home. So he seizes the chance to let her go....
This is a fine DW moment and it feels like a tragedy even today 43 years on....
This story would be a good movie remake in 2019 if you find the right performers and director. It's Bob Baker and Dave Martin's best script for DW. And director Lennie Mayne's...
ABM Rating 3.61/4.00
LJM Rating 4.11/5.00
SPJ Rating 9.75/10
No. 11 (out of 87)
Link to Cumulative Rankings
Rankings Scoreboard
From Quickflix
ReplyDeleteJacqueline Hill and William Russell left the series in 1965! Tom Baker and Elizabeth Sladen (as Sarah) feature in this 1976 story of a fossilised hand found in Jurassic limestone (so it's 200 million years old but it can't be, right? Hmmm...). Cracking direction, great performances from the cast, one of Dudley Simpson's most moody incidental scores and a ripping story make this the sort of DW that you really should see again and again.