The Seeds of Death
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| 048 - The Seeds of Death | |
|---|---|
| Doctor | Patrick Troughton (Second Doctor) |
| Writer | Brian Hayles Terrance Dicks (episodes 3-6, uncredited) |
| Director | Michael Ferguson |
| Script editor | Terrance Dicks |
| Producer | Peter Bryant |
| Executive producer(s) | None |
| Production code | XX |
| Series | Season 6 |
| Length | 6 episodes, 25 mins each |
| Transmission date | January 25–March 1, 1969 |
| Preceded by | The Krotons |
| Followed by | The Space Pirates |
The Seeds of Death is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from January 25 to March 1, 1969.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The Second Doctor, Jamie and Zoe discover a deadly alien threat trying to invade Earth from the Moon. An old enemy has plans for invasion that involve turning the peak of human technology against its creators.
[edit] Plot
At the end of the twenty first century, a teleportation technology called "T-Mat" has replaced all traditional forms of transport, allowing people and objects to travel instantly anywhere on Earth. Manned space exploration has ceased due to the ease of life on Earth. The Second Doctor, Jamie McCrimmon and Zoe Herriot arrive in a museum on Earth run by Professor Daniel Eldred dedicated to the obsolete technology of rockets. However, something goes amiss at the T-Mat vital relay station on the Moon and the system breaks down. With communications out, and no way to reach the Moon without T-Mat, those responsible for the system, Commander Radnor and his assistant Gia Kelly, turn to Professor Eldred to help. He has been privately building a rocket in hopes of re-igniting interest in space travel. In the absence of a space program to provide trained astronauts, the Doctor and his companions volunteer to crew the rocket.
On the moon, the relay station has been subject to a takeover. Controller Osgood has been killed sabotaging the relay system to try and prevent a takeover, and his deputy Fewsham has been pressed into assisting the invaders. Of the other technicians, Phipps is scared but defiant of the invaders while Locke actively tries to contact Earth and explain the situation, for which he is killed. The invaders are revealed as Ice Warriors, a militant Martian race, have taken control of the moonbase as a staging point for an invasion of Earth. Fewsham repairs the T-Mat link on receive mode and Miss Kelly beams through. She is put to work on repairing the full T-Mat system.
When the Doctor and his companions arrive on the moon by rocket – after a rather bumpy ride - they discover the situation and make contact with Phipps, who has evaded the invaders and is hiding in the moonbase. The Doctor accidentally reveals himself to the Ice Warriors and their leader the Ice Lord, Commander Slaar. It becomes apparent that the Ice Warriors have a deadly plan: they have seeds, which they send to various parts of Earth using T-mat, of a fungus that will multiply and suck all the oxygen from the surrounding atmosphere, making it more comfortable for the Martians but uninhabitable for humans. Once the full T-Mat relay is repaired, one seed is sent to Earth Control and explodes, killing a technician called Brent and alerting Radnor and Eldred of the danger. The seed soon creates foam which multiplies its effects and imperils more and more people. Other T-Mat terminals across the world receive more seeds with similar effects. Radnor takes a while to work out that the seeds seem to have been deposited in a pattern – all in the Northern zone, where the country is facing winter. The Ice Warriors also use T-Mat to dispatch a small advance force to seize Earth's weather control systems in London and ensure good conditions for the growth of the fungus.
Back on the moon Miss Kelly and Phipps work with Zoe and Jamie to stage diversions and attacks against the Ice Warriors. During their main assault to free the Doctor, Phipps is killed. The Ice Warriors have now retreated to their spacecraft to plan the next stage of their invasion, leaving an opportunity for most of the captives to flee the moonbase. Fewsham, however, remains behind, seemingly fearing an enquiry into his actions if he returns to Earth.
The Doctor’s first action in T-Mat control on Earth is to deduce how to stop the seed pods exploding, and works out they can be defeated using water. This explains where the Ice Warrior beamed to Earth has gone, and the Doctor tracks him down to the weather control system, where the alien has been stationed to prevent any rain fall that would be deadly to the pods. The Doctor and his allies recaptures the weather control system and summon rain, destroying the fungus which is used to the dry conditions on Mars.
Fewsham has meanwhile delivered a crushing blow to the Ice Warriors. He dupes Slaar into revealing into a live link with Earth that the main Martian invasion force is following a homing signal to the Moon, for which he is killed. But at least the Doctor now knows the full extent of the Ice Warrior plans. He decides to return to the moonbase and set a new signal for the Martian fleet from there, but knows to do so will be very dangerous. The Doctor uses T-Mat to return to the Moon and confronts Slaar while cleverly substituting the alternative signal. This draws the Martian fleet away and lures it into the Sun. Slaar moves to kill the Doctor in revenge but the arrival of Jamie in a T-Mat cubicle causes chaos, and Slaar is killed in one of the sonic beams of the last of his warriors. Jamie then kills the surviving Martian and the invasion is over. The Doctor and Jamie return to Earth and then make their goodbyes before departing in the TARDIS with Zoe.
[edit] Cast
- Dr. Who — Patrick Troughton
- Jamie McCrimmon — Frazer Hines
- Zoe Heriot — Wendy Padbury
- Commander Julian Radnor — Ronald Leigh-Hunt
- Gia Kelly — Louise Pajo
- Professor Daniel Eldred — Philip Ray
- Fewsham — Terry Scully
- Brent — Ric Felgate
- Osgood — Harry Towb
- Phipps — Christopher Coll
- Locke — Martin Cort
- Sir James Gregson — Hugh Morton
- Security Guard — Derrick Slater
- Computer Voices — John Witty
- Slaar — Alan Bennion
- Grand Marshall — Graham Leaman
- Ice Warriors — Steve Peters, Tony Harwood, Sonny Caldinez
[edit] Cast notes
- This story is the first story to feature Alan Bennion in the role of an Ice Lord, this one named Slaar. Bennion would return as the Ice Lords Izlyr in The Curse of Peladon (1972) and Azaxyr in The Monster of Peladon (1974).
- Sonny Caldinez, who played Slaar's second in command, is the only actor to appear as an Ice Warrior in all four televised Doctor Who stories to feature the Ice Warriors. Caldinez also appeared in The Evil of the Daleks as Kemel.
- Ronald Leigh-Hunt played Commander Radnor in this story. Leigh-Hunt would play Commander Stevenson in Revenge of the Cybermen (1975).
- Steve Peters, who played an Ice Warrior, was billed simply as "Alien" in the Radio Times listing for episode one, so as not to spoil the surprise of the Ice Warriors' appearance.
[edit] Continuity
- When the Ice Warriors in this episode speak, their voices are strainded hisses as they are breathing a different atmosphere as they are from Mars.
- This story introduces the concept of the caste system within the Martians' society. There are two distinct (unnamed on screen) classes of Martians; the Ice Warriors, which were seen in The Ice Warriors (1967), and the Ice Lords. It becomes clear at the end of Episode One that all of the warriors are subordinate to the Ice Lord Slaar. Moreover, the story indicates that there is even a hierarchy within the Ice Lord class when it introduces the Grand Marshall in Episode Six. This is illustrated by the fact that Slaar is seen taking orders from the Grand Marshall once the Ice Warriors had T-Mat under their control. The appearance of the Martians is also connected with this caste system. Whereas the Ice Warriors tend to wear heavy reptilian armour and large helmets, the Ice Lords tend to wear a slender and less bulky uniform with a more decorative helmet.
- While matter transportation technology first appeared in Doctor Who in The Daleks' Master Plan, it was called "particle dissemination". This story calls it "T-Mat", and subsequent stories would settle on the name "transmat" to describe the technology, which would come to be used within Doctor Who much as transporters are used in Star Trek.
[edit] Production
- The working title of this story was The Lords of the Red Planet.
- Although Brian Hayles is solely credited as the story's author, series script editor Terrance Dicks rewrote Episodes 3 through 6 of the script, partially as he considered Hayles's original ending lackluster and unworkable but also because originally Jamie McCrimmon was to have been replaced by a new companion called Nik by this story, but then actor Frazer Hines postponed his departure. Dicks was co-credited on the sleeve of the VHS release for his writing duties on the serial.
- Patrick Troughton does not appear in Episode 4 as he was on holiday when it was being recorded. A double stands in for him in some shots where the Doctor is seen unconscious on the floor.
[edit] In print
A novelisation of this serial, written by Dicks, was published by Target Books in July 1986.
[edit] Broadcast, VHS and DVD releases
- The Seeds of Death was released on VHS in 1985 in an omnibus format (the first BBC Video release not to feature Tom Baker as the Doctor).
- In February 2003, a remastered, VidFIRE'd version was released unedited on DVD in the UK as a two-disc set. The story was chosen to represent the Patrick Troughton era as part of the Doctor Who 40th Anniversary releases.
- Episode 5 of The Seeds of Death exists both as a 16 mm film print and a 35 mm broadcast print.
[edit] External links
- The Seeds of Death episode guide on the BBC website
- The Seeds of Death at Doctor Who: A Brief History Of Time (Travel)
- The Seeds of Death at the Doctor Who Reference Guide
- Doctor Who Locations - The Seeds of Death
[edit] Reviews
- The Seeds of Death reviews at Outpost Gallifrey
- The Seeds of Death reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
[edit] Target novelisation
| Ice Warrior television stories | |
|---|---|
| Second Doctor: | The Ice Warriors • The Seeds of Death |
| Third Doctor: | The Curse of Peladon • The Monster of Peladon |
| Minor appearances: | The War Games • The Mind of Evil |
