So just for a change I thought I would do a review on a classic Doctor Who story from the Tom Baker era, and so I've opted for Terror of the Zygons, which features the creepy pizza-esque aliens, the zygons (let's face there has been nothing since like them in the show). But let's not delay any further and have a look at the story....
Righty so the story is set in Scotland (of all places!) and it starts with the collapse of an oil rig as a high pitched beeping echoes throughout the rig and it breaks into the North sea. Meanwhile the Doctor (Tom Baker), Sarah (Elisabeth Sladen) and Harry (Ian Marter) who have been summoned by the Brigadier (Nicholas Courtney). They receive a lift from the Duke of Forgill (John Woodnutt) who is a local landowner, who drops them off a local inn, where the Brig has set up his operations and is accompanied by his squad and RSM Benton (John Levene). The Doctor is irked by the Brigadier summoning him as at first he doesn't seem concenred by the troubles at sea, but the Brig soon convinces him to help investigate. Harry investigates the medical files of the injuries of the men's crew while Sarah goes to talk with the local inn's landlord, Angus (Angus Lennie). Angus admits to Sarah that the Duke has not been the same since the oil companies have come as all his servants have gone to work for them. Sarah also notices a stag head in the inn, which Angus warns her not to touch as it was gift from the Duke.
Meanwhile Harry while driving enroute back to the inn spots a survivor of the wrecked rig stumble and collapse on the shore, where Harry goes over to help him. The survivor tells Harry they had no chance as the rig was smashed to pieces, then out of nowhere the man is shot dead, and Harry is shot also by the Caber (Robert Russell) one of the Duke's men. Back at the inn Sarah receives a call about Harry and Sarah goes to see him, and as Harry awakes he mutters about the rig, and the hospital head nurse, Sister Lamont (Lillias Walker) tells Sarah that Harry should rest. Sarah then goes to call the Doctor and she tells him that Harry is in stable condition, however at that point Sister Lamont transforms infront of Harry's eyes. Sarah while chatting to the Doctor on the phone is suddenly attacked by the transformed sister, who is revealed to be an orange alien biped, a zygon. The Doctor goes to the sick bay where Sister Lamont tells him that Sarah had gone and Harry's bed is empty. The Doctor looks around the sick bay and finds Sarah inside a decompression chamber, but before they can leave the door is locked by a Zygon, who removes the oxygen from the chamber. The Doctor then puts Sarah in a hypnotic trance so she does not need to breath and the Doctor does the same for himself.
Harry in the meantime is brought to the Zygon spaceship which is deep underwater and he speaks to their leader, Broton (also John Woodnutt) who tells Harry that their planet was destroyed centuries ago and they have been stranded on Earth ever since, but they intend to claim Earth for their themselves along with aid of a cyborg creature called the Skarasen, which is said to resemble the myth of the "Loch ness monster". Benton soon manages to find the Doctor and Sarah at the sick bay and opens the decompression chamber, where the Doctor comes around and tells Benton that he learned a trick from a Tibetan monk that helped them. Meanwhile the Brigadier and his men have been knocked out by nerve gas which has hit the village, but they soon revive, and the Doctor deduces that this must be a diversion so that something can make its way past them unseen. The zygons meanwhile use Harry by scanning his brain print in order for them to assume his human form, and one of the zygons disguised as Harry goes to the village and recovers a tracking device, used by the zygons, which the zygons takes from Sarah, who runs after him. Sarah follows the Zygon Harry into a nearby barn, and the zygon attacks Sarah with a pitchfork in the upper level of the barn, but the zygon falls off to its death and reverts back to its normal form. Broton then orders for the zygon to be disintegrated before it is found, which is gone by the time Sarah brings Benton to the barn. Broton decides to unleash the Skarasen and in doing so it activates the tracking device, which the Doctor takes and uses to divert the creature away, and the Brigadier eventually get's a signal on it as it originated from Loch Ness, meanwhile the Doctor barely survives an attack from the Skarasen, as Harry sabotages the Zygons control console onboard the ship just in time. And from here the Doctor decides to pay the Duke a visit at Forgill castle, where ultimaltey the story begins to unravel as the Doctor will soon encounter his foes and try and find a way to stop their plans of world domination.
Terror of the Zygons easily stands as one of the best of Tom Baker's early stories and it also proved to be the last full proper UNIT story of the original series run until Battlefield in the Sylvester McCoy era (Android Invasion did follow later in the same season but it didn't feature UNIT as much only Benton). And in that regard it really did signal the end of the UNIT era as the new producer at that time, Philip Hinchcliffe decided that it was time to move the show on from that era and see the Doctor return fully to his time travels. However as the last hurra for UNIT there is no doubt that it was an excellent one and the story itself written by Robert Banks Stewart is great, as it nicely uses the whole Loch Ness monster theme very well. The zygons themselves remain one of the most creepy and unique villains in the original show's run and their bizarre design and appearance is something you won't forget quickly.
Performance wise Terror of the zygons is pretty strong also, Tom Baker who has grown well into playing the Doctor at this point provides another fine performance, and his potrayal of the Doctor starts to show signs of him becoming a bit darker in tone, yet he still allows for some levity as well, and this tone would continue to be developed in the same season of the time (the show's 13th season). Tom has plenty of fine lines in the story, some of which I will mention, and to start with there is a good one when the character Huckle, one of Hibernian oil's representatives says about the oil rigs "these babies are meant to be unsinkable!" and the Doctor replies "Yes and so was the Bismarc and we all know that story!". Also the scene where the Doctor is in the hypnotic trance in the decompression chamber and Benton finds him and Sarah inside, the Doctor whispers "It worked Mr Benton!" and Benton whispers back "What worked?" and the Doctor whispers "Why are you whispering?". Tom also brings some wonderfully dramatic moments to his performance as well, and his ability to deliver lines seriously with real conviction has always been one of his strengths as an actor, especially where Huckle says to him when the rig was attacked "the sea was calm and empty" and the Doctor replies "it may be calm, but its never empty". I also like his line later on when he is captured by the zygons, while being held in one of their cells, he examines what appears to be a speaker and let's it go as Broton enters, the Doctor grins and says "social call??".
John Woodnutt is great also in his dual role as the Duke of Forgill and Broton, the Zygon's warlord and leader, who has plans of world domination. Woodnutt's Forgill is wonderfully snooty and he also even delivers a fine Scottish accent and he also has some good lines of dialogue, particularly when the Doctor says to him how aliens have been causing the trouble at sea, and Forgill replies "You're all utterly unhinged! Aliens with wireless sets?!". I also like the line at the start of the story where he drops off the Doctor, Sarah and Harry at the local inn, and he has a cross word with Mr Huckle, the rep from Hibernian oil, and he says "My family has served this land for seven centuries, but that doesn't seem to count for much these days!". Also at the end of the story where the Duke (the real one at this point) and the Brigadier watch the TARDIS dematerialise and the Duke quips "You should taken your return tickets and got a refund, I thought you were a Scotsman!". Woodnutt as Broton is also suitably creepy and his raspy and at times whispering voice (treated by some sort of electronic device no doubt courtesy of sound effects man, Dick Mills) really adds to the character, and in his climactic scene as Broton he provides some wonderfully over the top screeching as he attacks the Brig's men! And as Broton, Woodnutt get's a good exit line just before he dies he says "The Skarasen will destroy you all!".
In the other performances, starting with Nicolas Courtney, he also does a fine job here with his last outing as Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart for another eight years until the Peter Davison era (in Mawdryn Undead and then The Five Doctors). Nick get's quite a few good lines as you would expect, especially in the scene where after he and his soldiers have been knocked, the Brigadier comes around in time for the Doctor to arrive at the inn, and he says what happened and the Doctor says "you've been asleep, Brigadier" and the Brig replies "What are you talking about? You know there are times where you talk absolute nonsense, Doctor. Excuse me!". Also in his first scene (where we see the Brig wear a kilt!) at the inn, we hear the landlord Angus play his bagpipes loudly in the background, and the Brigadier quietly says to Benton "You get on well with the landlord don't you?" and Benton says "Well yes, sir, I guess I do" and the Brig says "Well try to use your influence to get him to play the pipes when we're out would you?".
As for the Doctor's regular companions, Liz Sladen does another fine job as Sarah Jane and she has some nice moments in the story, especially the moment where she says to the Doctor at the inn, when we hear the landlord play his bagpipes, Sarah says "Well you can forget about security in Tulloch, the landlord here's got second sight!" and the pipes all of a sudden stop! Followed by Liz's funny line when she answers the phone in a heavily exaggerated Scottish accent "Hello, Fox Inn!". Ian Marter, in his last regular appearance in the show (followed by his last one in Android Invasion) also does really well, although he is slightly sidelined in the story, but his performance is really good, particularly early on after he has been shot and lies restlessly in bed in the sick bay, and his reaction to the sister transforming into the zygon is great.
Which brings me onto Lillias Walker who is quite creepy in her dual role as Sister Lamont (with a beside manner equivalent to Nurse Ratchett) and one of the zygons, who is quite clipped and icy in her delivery. And in one of the story's most effective scenes where the Sister wanders the woods (really a zygon in disguise), and a UNIT soldier finds her with her arm badly injured, the soldier looks to examine it and she knocks him out with a rock and she looks around coldly for anyone watching before she moves off. And lastly I will mention Angus Lennie (who was well known for his role in The Great Escape) as the landlord of the Fox Inn, who gives a good turn as the slightly eccentric local, who plays his bagpipes loudly and later falls victim to one of the zygons, as he tries to remove a bug planted by the zygons in the stag head he has in his inn.
Getting onto the show's direction, well it would be hard to argue with its director, the late great Douglas Camfield, who was widely acclaimed as one of the very best directors of the show. And here Camfield does a terrific job as he paces the action nicely, and builds up some suspense and his reveal of the zygons is particularly effective at the end of the first episode when the zygon at the sick bay attacks Sarah. Camfield who was also ex-army was said to have been by reputation good to work for but he directed and ran his shows like a military operation as well, which given it is a UNIT story is quite appropriate here! The music score is also worthy note, as it was written for by Geoffrey Burgon, and it is very good and a nice change from the show's regular composer Dudley Simpson (whom Camfield had a falling out with years ago, which is why they never worked together again, and Camfield always used different composers afterward). Dick Mills sound effects are also worthy note here and he makes great use of his effects, particularly in the scenes where the zygons transform their appearance, and also the deep atmopsheric rumbles of their spaceship. And special mention finally has to go to the set designer Nigel Curzon who did a great job with creating the truly strange and original design for the zygon spaceship, which looks like you are stepping into a giant Mozzrella pizza!
So getting on Terror of the Zygon's flaw, does it have any at all??? Well yep it does, to start with it has to be said that the story's biggest letdown is of course the Skarasen itself, as a monster it just isn't convincing as it looks like some that belongs out of Ray Harryhausen film. And in its last scene with the Doctor throwing the signal device into the ocean for it to go after, the close up of it rising over London is just ridiculous, but I guess given the show's limited budget of the time its to be expected. I also felt the story has one or two silly moments in it, such as Broton's final confrontation with the Doctor as it attacks him and Sarah and UNIT soldiers (PLOT SPOILER HERE AGAIN!!!) when they shoot Broton and he collapses and dies, we can see the join in the top and bottom half of his alien suit! Also in a rather silly and amusing moment after the real Duke is rescued from the zygon spaceship by the Doctor, Sarah tells the Doctor that the Duke is the president of the Scottish energy commission which will allow them entrance to an important conference in London, and all of sudden the Duke says "That's right I am!" like he had forgotten all about his position, like "Oh I had forgotten all about that!". But the show is of course guilty of silly moments like that now and then so I suppose you can forgive that. It also has to be said that while the flangered whispy effect used for the zygons voices is undeniably effective and rather creepy, it is also makes their voices quite indistinct at times when you are trying to make out what they are saying, particularly when Broton goes on a rant and talks quite fast, which he does quite often.
Anyway regardless of that Terror of the Zygons still remains a really strong story of the Tom Baker era with one of the show's most unique villains, as well as being a great last hurra for UNIT for quite some time.
And with that I shall leave you there the noooow.
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