This one is from the Jon Pertwee era and, in my opinion, has
the best characterisation of The Master in the entire run played by Roger
Delgado.
Jon Pertwee was best known for three things as the Doctor,
being a bit of a ‘dandy’ in his dress sense, his use of Venusian Aikido and spouting a load of
scientific gobbledygook in some of the episodes – some which was not entirely
scripted. The third Doctor was clearly a man of science but not afraid of using
physical force when it was necessary. I do feel that sometimes Pertwee does not
get the credit he deserves for his time playing the Doctor. This is possibly as
he was overshadowed by Tom Baker who took over the role at the end of ‘planet
of the spiders’
This story was first broadcast in 4 parts in March - April
1971
Brief Plot:
UNIT are monitoring something that is orbiting earth – a
comet is their first thought but that would be too easy.
The Axons have landed and send out a plea for help, they
need fuel and are willing to offer the gift of a seemingly wonderful substance,
Axonite, in return for it. Chinn, a civil servant who is determined to get rid
of the Doctor, sees the potential to make money out of it. The Doctor believes something
just doesn’t add up, something isn’t right but he can’t quite put his finger on
it but if he could – he’d have to wash it.
Soon the Axons plan becomes clear, but can the Doctor not
only save Earth (again) but also escape from the exile imposed on him by the
Time Lords for his past indiscretions?
What I thought of it:
The Jon Pertwee era was a time when the BBC was trying to
save money and so the budget restraints on the series were even tighter. This
is the main reason why they decided to keep the Doctor on earth as much as
possible as then the same non-Tardis sets could be used over and over and the
‘on location’ scenes would need little to no work. Whilst this did remove a lot
of the time and space travel idea from the series it did help give the link for
the Doctor’s fondness for Earth.
The not so special effects well let’s face it in the
original run they were never going to win any awards. Something similar to the
‘peppers ghost’ effect has been used a few times to make the Axons appear and
disappear and also change form. And the
overuse of some washing up liquid to create the mass of bubbles is perhaps a
little obvious. One of the special effects the crew did develop was ruled as
being ‘too horrible’ to be shown and so the solution was to go to a very brief
‘white out’ on screen to cover it up. When I first saw this I thought something
was wrong with the DVD but it was explained in the commentary audio/subtitle
option.
The costumes well for the main cast this is as you would
expect but for the Axons it looks like the budget was spent on the ‘regular
form’ so when they switch to human form all they got were cat suits with a
strange paten on them, gold paint and some kind of goggles over their eyes. The
regular form of the aliens looks like a child had had a tantrum and thrown a large
pan of spaghetti bolognaise over someone.
The acting well the main cast do put in good to excellent
performances in particular Roger Delgado as the Master. He was able to appear
menacing without going over the top and his stare could turn you to stone.
Tragically Delgado was killed in a car crash two years after this story was
made. Pertwee and Delgado were good friends and Pertwee said many years later
that Delgado’s death was partly why he left the series. The extras are few and
far between (thank goodness) – mainly the other Axons who only have to walk on
and off again so not exactly difficult.
The oddity of the appearing and disappearing snow is obvious
to anyone watching it. This is explained in a short extra that they had some
unforcast snow when they were due to film. This was written into the script as
the axon ship causing ‘freak weather conditions’- Probably because this was cheaper
than delaying filming whilst waiting for it to thaw. Katy Manning (plays Jo Grant),
who narrates this extra , said that she was freezing cold in a very mini
mini-skirt whilst all the men had their long johns on.
The sets well the UNIT headquarters were more of a permanent
set during the early 70s and were used many times in order to save money and
the lab is simply the doctor’s Lab at UNIT with a couple of extra things
brought in. One of which looks like a round shower cubical complete with a
sliding glass door. The ‘Nuton power plant’ exterior is Dungeness A and B nuclear power plants – probably before
they went all H&S and security mad. (Although Dungeness B was still under
construction at the time). The axon’s ship looks like something made by a Blue
Peter presenter after a liquid lunch without any instructions or autocue.
Comments
Post a Comment