In an effort to find something quick that can be written as part of Daily Doctor Who, we are continuing with Say Something Nice, where I look back at each of the Doctor Who stories and pull out one or two cool things about it.
Read the previous entry here. Today, we continue with the fifth story of the show’s sixth season…
The Seeds of Death
The story stars Patrick Troughton as the Doctor, Frazer Hines as Jamie McCrimmon, and Wendy Padbury as Zoe Herriot.
The serial is written by Brian Hayles (with uncredited rewrites in Parts 3-6 by Terrance Dicks), and directed by Michael Ferguson.
Say Something Nice…
(Named for Missy–aka the Master–and her catchphrase from her first full appearance in Dark Water).
The Ice Warriors are all together more menacing in this story than in their debut appearance the previous season. Patrick Troughton is a treat to watch, especially when he is struggling through giant piles of foam. And the seemingly cowardly character Fewsham gets a good story arc.
But because we’re equal-opportunity fans here, we’re not going to only be sycophantically complimentary.
You craven-hearted spineless poltroon!
(Another cry from the Master, but not exactly a catch-phrase, this time from The Deadly Assassin)
Phipps, who starts off as a major guest star, gets killed off rather perfunctorily. And Professor Eldred appears to be a significant and distinct character at the start of the story, but after a very short time just becomes another guy standing around the control centre being worried and delivering exposition.
Catch you next time!
Blue Towel Productions 