The Doctor Who Real Time Marathon: The Seeds Of Death

The Seeds Of Death - Episode One (25/01/09)

The Ice Warriors are back! They tried to keep it a secret throughout the episode by having only point-of-view shots and keeping them off camera until the end, but I recognised their guns and their voices. Their leader's got a sleek new costume which looks quite cool (a bit like the head of an Alien, actually!) and they've invaded the Moonbase for T-MAT - a transmat system that has left rocket engineering defunct. They killed the main Lunar controller for burning out the controls and now his simpering, useless deputy is trying to fix it for them.

Meanwhile, at T-MAT Control, London, Gia Kelly (the only person qualified to fix the system - bit of a flaw, that) is having to explain the situation to her Commander, Radnor, who believes only one man can help them send a rocket into space.

Elsewhere, the TARDIS has landed in a museum of Rocket Science owned by Daniel Eldred, an old man who used to design rockets and who has been building one in secret since Government funding (worldwide) was pulled. He's the one man who can help Radnor get Kelly to the moon, but understandably he's a bit pissed off and refuses.

While at the museum, Radnor got a video call from one of the moon engineers calling for help, but the Ice Warriors killed him. Nevertheless, the Doctor et al. witnessed all this and will no doubt persuade old Eldred to help. God knows I hope so because they did bugger all else this week apart from arrive ten minutes late and go "Ooh!" and "Aah!" at a few model rockets! Have a feeling this might end up being a slow one, but full marks for bringing the Ice Warriors back!

The Seeds Of Death - Episode Two (01/02/09)

So...

Fewsham is working for the Ice Warriors because he's scared of being killed, Phipps legged it and hid in the Solar Energy store room, the Doctor persuaded Eldred to help Commander Radnor by sending a rocket to the moon, Miss Kelly argued to go up in the rocket but Radnor said no and sent the Doctor and Zoe (who know more about Space Travel that anyone Radnor knows) with Jamie (...) instead, Fewsham fixed the T-MAT controls while the Ice Warriors were looking for Phipps, Phipps set up a trap for the Ice Warriors using a Solar Lamp, Miss Kelly T-MATted to the moon, and Phipps destroyed an Ice Warrior but knocked out the Solar Energy which was guiding the rocket containing the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe to the Moonbase meaning they'll either crash and die or drift forever.

Not a bad episode, but not a great one. The Ice Warriors haven't done much apart from go on a mass search for Phipps when he can't escape the Moonbase anyway (so what was the point?). The Doctor and Zoe are getting plenty to do, although the focus is mainly on Radnor, Eldred, Miss Kelly and Fewsham. Oh, and there's plenty of taking the piss out of Jamie.

The rocket model work isn't bad. It was intensely funny when the rocket took off with the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe sat on spinny chairs, holding their necks and pulling their faces down to 'simulate' G-forces. Later, they had an equally funny and unconvincing attempt at weightlessness. The Doctor says the TARDIS isn't any good at small trips (hence they didn't go to the moon in it) despite it managing to avoid being vaporised in the last story! At least Zoe and Miss Kelly are well written and strong characters. Really getting to like Zoe now - much better than that awful Victoria! She gets some good banter with the Doctor. Sadly, already not as good at The Invasion and The Krotons, but far better than the first two stories this season - although that doesn't really take much doing!

The Seeds Of Death - Episode Three (08/02/09)

Not so bad this week. Phipps made radio contact and guided the rocket down but Zoe checked the engines and they're fucked. Meanwhile, Miss Kelly fixed T-MAT and the Ice Warriors killed her technicians, and the Doctor met up with Phipps to go and put T-MAT out of action entirely having learnt from him that it's the Ice Warriors they're up against. 

Miss Kelly escaped but, following an extensive comedy run-around in the various silly hall-of-mirrors rooms of the Moonbase, the Doctor was caught - the Ice Warriors didn't kill him because he's a geniusssssss...

Zoe, Jamie, Miss Kelly and Phipps met up in the Solar Energy room and figured out that to defeat the Ice Warriors all they have to do is turn up the heat - but need to get to the Control room to do this. The Doctor met Fewsham and persuaded him to help by distracting their guard while he had a look at a container the Ice Warriors brought in holding the titular Seeds Of Death. He was caught, but the Ice Lord let him have a look at one which exploded in his face and now he's unconscious. I don't know what they are, but the Ice Warriors want to send them all to major cities in the far Northern Hemisphere - Canada, Sweden, Norway, etc. - and ended the episode successfully sending one to London. Oooooh!

Not bad - it held my attention, but I'm not liking the Ice Warriors much this time round. They've taken on the role of 'Generic Alien Menace' and aren't as sympathetic or interesting as they were last time. Zoe and Gia Kelly are dressed in some nice catsuits, and I quite like Jamie's shirt, and the camera work isn't bad. A bit too much running around, though, and not enough plot. Still better than The Dominators, though.

The Seeds Of Death - Episode Four (15/02/09)

They do like their foam, don't they! It was quite good this week, with some nice location work; scenes of an Ice Warrior wandering around what seemed to be Clapham Common is silhouette, shooting down security guards. The Doctor wasn't in it this week, unconscious after the seed exploded in is face, but that didn't matter. Jamie and Phipps rescued him, then Phipps took Zoe to turn up the heating because she's the only one small enough to climb through the vent grill (clearly not, but health and safety and all that!). The Ice Warriors have sent seeds to all the major cities in the Northern Hemisphere (where it's Winter) which have proliferated into a foamy 'blight'.

Meanwhile, Fewsham has finally done something heroic after spending half the story being one of the most pathetic (but realistic) characters the show's ever seen! He distracted his Ice Warrior guard to let Zoe in to turn the heat up. Unfortunately, it eventually saw her, seemingly killed Phipps as he warned her, and the cliffhanger saw it about to kill her.

The seeds consume oxygen, by the way, and several T-MAT personnel died of oxygen starvation on encountering them (Brent being the first). Oh, and an Ice Warrior has found the Doctor, but no doubt Miss Kelly will find a way of destroying it before it kills him. All things considered (meaning Zoe and Gia Kelly are the only women in the story) I think this is the first time Doctor Who has had really strong characters in it*. Gia and Zoe are by far the most resourceful and intelligent characters in this story. For that alone this is a worth while adventure. Looking forward to next week. Good stuff.

The Seeds Of Death - Episode Five (22/02/09)

Not too bad this week. The heating increased and Fewsham attacked the Ice Warrior allowing Zoe to escape. The Doctor's awake now, and while the Ice Warriors were all out of action Fewsham T-MATted everyone but himself to Earth. The Doctor and Eldred went off to find a way of destroying the fungus and found it was susceptible to water; Radnor, Gia and some higher positioned bloke went for a conference, and Jamie and Zoe went to the Weather Control Bureau after the Doctor told them about his discovery. The plan was to make it rain, but the Ice Warrior got there first and melted the control.

Fewsham transmitted the homing beacon used by the Ice Warriors to T-MAT Control. They recorded it but the Ice Warriors killed Fewsham. Now the Doctor's gone to find Jamie and Zoe at the Weather Control Bureau but he's locked outside doing prat falls in foam and they're locked inside with an Ice Warrior.

I quite like this story, even though the plot isn't much cop. The characters are mostly very well written. Radnor and Eldred are slightly stereotypical (although Eldred's personality is nicely scripted) but Gia Kelly and Fewsham are two of the most memorable and rounded characters in a long time! I especially grew to like Fewsham this week as it showed proper character development. Pity they killed him off, but entirely right. This story's turning into a bit of a bloodbath, too! The whole of the Moonbase crew are dead now, plus a load of nameless guards and technicians around T-MAT Control. We may even have seen more death than in The Invasion (though I can't be sure of that). As I said, not too bad!

The Seeds Of Death - Episode Six (01/03/09)

Well, that story came to a rather enjoyable conclusion. It started off with lots more pratting about by the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe as Jamie distracted the Ice Warrior and Zoe let the Doctor in (he fell over and Zoe visibly laughed before nearly falling arse over tit in the next scene). They hid in the Solar Control Room and the Doctor put together a portable version of Phipps' thingy he used on the moon to kill the Ice Warriors (though Phipps' was bigger, according to Zoe!). Then he went off and killed the Ice Warrior, mended the Weather Control so it could rain and went up to the Moonbase and massacred the rest of the Martians.

Meanwhile, Miss Kelly programmed a satellite to lure the Martian fleet to their deaths in orbit of the Sun. After which, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe buggered off.

So, in conclusion, this episode was pretty much the mixed bag the whole story's been. Yes, I enjoyed it, but much of it was laboured and didn't entirely make sense. Also, this needn't have been an Ice Warrior story (except with them being vulnerable to heat) as they did little more than try to invade Earth like any other alien and were miles away from the fairly reasonable and well rounded species they were in the previous story. On top of this was the arbitrary way the Doctor et al. reacted to them, seeming to forget that on last meeting them they only turned bad when provoked by Clent's stupidity and betrayal. Prior to that they'd been quite reasonable. Here, the Doctor went off and quite happily slaughtered at least three Ice Warriors and contributed to Slaar's death. I may be wrong, but that seemed very out of character.

But on the whole it was okay. God knows it could've been a damn sight worse!

* I'd clearly forgotten all about Astrid and Fariah from 'The Enemy Of The World', just over a year earlier.