This is a mess. Worse it's a silly mess.
According to Bob Baker the initial idea was a homily about "drugs are bad... hmm, 'kay".
It goes downhill from there.
Some very bad acting, crap effects, and shoddy direction make this abominable.
The production nightmare is not unprecendented in DW history but it is the most alarming. The decision to do the spaceships 'in studio' in about 2 hours instead of getting them filmed properly taking some weeks is symptomatic of a slack approach.
The walkout of director Bromly (see below) is also symptomatic.
This could be the worst ever produced, certainly the worst produced up to this point in time DW serial.
Biggest problem seems to be that someone gave the actors licence to be silly.
The acting is variable at best. Rigg is generally well handled by David Daker (previously Irongron in the Time Warrior) but he has moments he'd likely want to forget. Lewis Fiander as Tryst puts in an incredibly silly performance based on some Peter Sellers joke. Fisk and Costa (played by Geoffrey Hinsliff (Image of the Fendahl) and Peter Craze (brother of Michael, The Space Museum, The War Games, and B7 Seek Locate Destroy) appear as silly. All four of these guys are well regarded, otherwise competent actors who seem to have made some embarrassing blunders here.
The guy playing Dymond (Geoffrey Bateman) is a one note bore. Jennifer Lonsdale as Della and Barry Andrews as Stott are better but simply not honking like a goose is relatively good in this stinky foul-up.
Tom and Lalla are actually pretty good in this (given the material).
Effects and sets are particularly wobbly in this show. I lost count of the cardboard doors and walls. The climax to p1 is ruined by obvious patching in the panel and poor direction. (Check out the visible hands at 4 and 8 o'clock when the panel is replaced.) The brown stripes on the walls in the first class area of Empress are **brown 2 inch packing tape**.
The Mandrils have flare trousers, visible zips, silly hair, and lurch in a comic, unthreatening manner. The arm movements invite overdubs to singalong, dance music.
The costuming is astounding. The sparkly cops, the hoody passenger coveralls and sunnies, the Empress staff uniforms (sleeveless smock tunics over a body stocking, weird). This is just terrible.
The story is reasonably well plotted and the story is internally consistent. But the production is execrable.
ABM Rating 1.54/4.00
LJM Rating 2.00/5.00
SPJ Rating 3.10/10
No. 98 (out of 107)
Link to Cumulative Rankings
Rankings Scoreboard
http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/serials/5k.html
The director booked for Nightmare Of Eden was Alan Bromly, who had previously helmed The Time Warrior in 1973. Bromly was now largely retired but still received occasional work from the BBC. Unfortunately, during rehearsals the old-school director quickly butted heads with Tom Baker, who was a commanding presence on Doctor Who and had become renowned for trying to impose his will on the production. Bromly had a very old-fashioned and authoritarian approach to directing, which did not sit well with the programme's star.
Also a source of concern during rehearsals was the drug element of the serial. Although Adams was a proponent of the angle, Williams was worried that it was unsuitable for a family-oriented show like Doctor Who, and his apprehension was shared by the series regulars. Lalla Ward, in particular, was keen to omit anything which might appear to glamourise the narcotics trade. As a result, various uses of drug language were amended to sound less appealing or exciting. Most notably, the drug at the centre of the story was originally called “xylophilin” or “XYP”, and nicknamed “zip”. This was changed to “vraxoin” (or “vrax” for short), although K·9's dialogue continued to refer to it by its original nomenclature.
Nightmare Of Eden was taped in two three-day blocks, both of which took place in BBC Television Centre Studio 6. Bromly had originally planned to record the serial more-or-less in story order, which was the traditional way of making Doctor Who until the mid-Seventies. However, he was ultimately convinced to proceed on a set-by-set basis, as had now become the norm. The recording of Nightmare Of Eden marked the return of David Brierley to Doctor Who as the voice of K·9: after making The Creature From The Pit at the start of the production schedule, Brierley had not been needed for either City Of Death or Destiny Of The Daleks.
The initial studio session for Nightmare Of Eden spanned August 12th to 14th. The first day dealt with scenes at the refreshment point and in the luggage section, as well as on the Empress bridge (for part one) and in the lounge (for parts one and two). Further bridge and lounge sequences were completed the next day, along with those in the Eden jungle and the capsule. August 14th was planned to be an effects-heavy day, involving scenes in the lounge which featured the CET projections, as well as the model shots of the Empress and the Hecate. Unfortunately, Bromly was ill-prepared for how extensively Doctor Who now incorporated special effects, and indeed for the generally faster pace of modern storytelling. Not all of the scheduled recording was completed, and the mood on set became strained.
When Alan Bromly walked off the set on August 28th, Graham Williams had to step in to direct the remaining material
The second studio block took place from August 26th to 28th. The first day was concerned with scenes in the passenger pallet and in the elevator area. The 27th was dedicated to various corridor sequences, in addition to those in the sick bay anteroom, the Empress power unit, and the dark room on the Hecate. Bromly made several changes to his recording schedule and was uncompromising in dictating how he wanted the actors to perform. This drew the ire of Tom Baker. He began vocally insulting his director, leading to an argument on the studio floor for which Williams had to be summoned to intervene.
The situation deteriorated completely on the final day of production. With Baker in open revolt, Bromly completed work on some further sequences in the corridors before informing Williams during the supper break that he was walking away from Nightmare Of Eden. Williams himself was forced to step in to direct the remaining material, which included scenes in the corridors and the elevator area. With blame for the debacle placed squarely on Bromly's shoulders, it was agreed that Williams would complete the post-production work on Nightmare Of Eden, and that Bromly would never again be invited back to Doctor Who. Bromly retired completely from television soon thereafter; he passed away in September 1995.
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