Showing posts with label Written by Brian Hayles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Written by Brian Hayles. Show all posts

Monday, 25 January 1999

The Seeds of Death

Premise: The TARDIS arrives on Earth where T-Mat has revolutionised travel. However, the Ice Warriors have seized control and use T-Mat to distribute Martian seed pods across the world.

Notes: After their appearance in The Ice Warriors, the decision was made to bring the monsters back (partly due to the cost of the costumes not wanting to be wasted on only one story). The original story submitted by Brian Hayles was titled the Lords of the Red Planet which was to be set on mars but was considered unworkable. This story was then written instead but more problems arose when Frazer Hines postponed his departure and Terrance Dicks thought the original ending was lackluster and unworkable. He then re-wrote episodes three through six but Brian Hayles was the only on credited as the writer of the story.

Verdict: A brilliant serial with amazing characters and great performances from the whole cast. Mrs Kelly is one of the strongest female characters we've ever seen and Slaar is everything you'd want in a Doctor Who villain. However the ending (while written not to be so) still feels a bit lackluster while in a story that up to there has been very gripping 9/10

Tuesday, 11 November 1997

The Ice Warriors

Premise: The TARDIS arrives on Earth during a new ice age. The Doctor, Victoria and Jamie enter Brittanicus Base but out on the glacier, a large Viking like creature is found buried.

Notes: Different from the norm, the story title, writer and episode number in this story are presented against an icy backdrop. For this story only, the word 'episode' is omitted from this sequence leaving only the number. Bernard Bresslaw, best known for his roles in the Carry On film series, appears here as the Ice Warrior leader, Varga, and is responsible for creating their distinctive hissing speech which is used in every story containing the Ice Warriors in the future. Deborah Watling was not available for the complete studio recording of the sixth episode. This was explained in story by the Doctor asking Victoria to go back to the TARDIS.

Verdict: An enjoyable story with an important moral message which ultimately takes up too much time. An interesting icy backdrop plays host to a less than interesting chase scene and the Ice Warriors themselves are impressive until they begin to move 6/10