Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death

CinemaSerf

You know, as I anticipate with no eagerness whatsoever the arrival of the latest "Star Wars Mandalorian" film/merch opportunity, I yearn more for sci-fi like this. Sure the sets are made of tin foil and polystyrene and the baddies clad in sparkly boiler suits and dented welder's helmets, but at least here there is an actual sense of something created by human imagination amidst the shaky props. That said, though, I think if I'd been around in the late 1960s I'd have sent a message to all the planets in the universe warning them that the "Doctor" meant trouble. No, he didn't usually cause it but wherever he (Patrick Troughton) and his pals "Jamie" (Frazer Hines) and "Zoe" (Wendy Padbury) went, it was certain to follow. This time, the Earth is celebrating the completion of it's T-Mat beam that enabled almost instantaneous transportation (via the moon) across the globe. It isn't working properly though. Something is amiss up there, and that's being driven by a creature that has a cunning plan to evacuate it's race from the now unsuitable planet Mars and relocate to the temperate climes of a new (our) planet. With the beam playing up, our intrepid travellers take to an antiquated rocket ship and set off to try and save the day - and with their nemesis equipped with a fairly powerful disruptor beam, this is going to be quite a perilous task. This series is particularly studio-bound, except for some brief outings at the end with excess Fairly Liquid bubbles, and so that does exacerbate some of it's limitations but Troughton takes a solid story by the scruff of the neck and strings out just enough tension to keep it entertaining, especially once we know whom we are up against and what they are capable of. The ending is a little rushed, but I did enjoy this one.