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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best for Pertwee, Manning, and UNIT,
By
This review is from: Doctor Who - The Daemons [VHS] (VHS Tape)
The final story to Season Eight has its detractors, who consider it a load of rubbish, and its supporters, who declare it as one of the best in the series. I'm happy to say I belong to the latter group.The plot: Professor Horner, an archaelogist is digging into a barrow at Devil's End that he claims contains treasure by a Bronze Age chieftain. Local resident and white witch Olive Hawthorne is against the dig, as she claims Satan will appear. After all, it is Beltane, 30 April. Something clicks in the Doctor's mind and he and Jo rush over to Devil's End. He is too late, and powerful forces send the Doctor and kills Horner. The forces have been unleashed by the Master, masquerading as the local reverend, and he intends to invoke Azal, the last Daemon, so he can rule the world with the power given by the Daemon. The Dæmons were an alien race who gave mankind knowledge to evolve, but amorally. To make matters worse, the Master has Azal create a heat barrier encircling Devil's End, trapping the local inhabitants in, and locking everyone else out, so the Doctor and his friends are left to fend for themselves. Here is one story where the fan/viewer can see the entire UNIT team at work, not only professionally, but in a family sort of way, where everyone looks after each other and shows genuine concern. Yates and Benton are akin to the big brothers to Jo's little sister, the Doctor is the grandfather, and the Brigadier is the uncle of the family. Jo's concern for the Doctor is all so apparent here. In the confrontation scene between the Doctor, the Master, and Azal, who is a fearsome, satyr-like creature standing 30' tall, the Time Lord launches effective arguments for why Azal should just leave and let mankind grow up, at their own pace. "Thanks to you, he can blow up the world and he probably will. He can poison the river, the land and the air he breathes, he's already started." When the Master says that he alone possesses the strong leadership needed, the Doctor retorts with "I seem to remember someone else talking like that. Who was the bounder? Hitler. Yes, Adolf Hitler. Or was it Genghis Khan?" The Doctor's moral character in the confrontation distinguishes him as a champion for Earth and its people. One of the best cliffhangers of the series comes at the end of Episode 2, when Bok, the stone gargoyle, traps the Doctor and Jo inside the cavern where they find Azal's miniaturized spaceship. How is it resolved? Yeah, right, like I'm going to tell you. One goof noticeable is the fight between Sergeant Benton and Garvin, the Master's servant. The shotgun held by Garvin breaks during their struggle and he carries on, holding both pieces together. The appearance of the heat barrier, the thick black marks on buildings denoting its presence, and the attempts to penetrate are some of the outstanding special effects. The Daemons is one of those stories whose colour prints were lost during the BBC purge. Episode 4 survived, but the colour synchronized restoration from the black and white prints of the other four episodes gives it a film look. With #4 still in its original condition, the interior video shots are a big contrast to the outdoor film footage. It makes me wonder, well, why not do it to the B&W print of #4 to give the whole story a film look? Still, this is only a minor complaint. The regulars give their best as usual, but Damaris Hayman (Miss Olive Hawthorne) is one of the best non-regulars I have seen in the entire series. John Scott-Martin has a non-speaking role as one of the villagers, and John Owens (Thorpe) may be familiar as a recurring character in The Two Ronnies. Jo Grant is the hero of the hour, as what she does causes Azal's defeat. No, you have to watch it to find out what I mean. The debate between science and magic is another subtopic presented here, between the Doctor and Jo and later, he and Miss Hawthorne at opposite ends. What appears to be magic in conjuring the Daemon is explained as highly advanced science, with the ceremony a means of controlling the psionic forces and the Daemon himself. To the Doctor, anything can be explained by science, as he demonstrates with to Jo by causing his yellow Roadster Bessie to run by itself via solenoids and a remote control. Yet, let's get one thing straight here. Azal is amoral, not evil, as the Doctor points out. Take Prometheus, a cousin of Azal. In Greek mythology, Prometheus was punished by the gods for giving fire to man. He eventually escaped with the help of his brother and continued giving knowledge to man. As a Rational, Prometheus is my hero, but should he have perhaps let mankind develop at its own pace, as the Doctor claims Azal should have done? Series producer Barry Letts, using the alias Guy Leopold, wrote the story, and how wonderful it was to have had an introspective, intellectual philosopher at the helm of Doctor Who! The Daemons remains one of my favorite Who episodes. At the end, the Doctor tells Jo, "There is magic in the world." as they and villagers dance around the Maypole. You tell'em, Doctor!
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Devilish Tale courtesy of Quatermass and Wheatley,
By
This review is from: Doctor Who - The Daemons [VHS] (VHS Tape)
One of my favourite Jon Pertwee era stories originall broadcast May 22 through June 19 1971, this adventure was extremely controversial in the UK at the time with campaigner Mary Whitehouse calling for it not to be broadcast.Full of references to withcraft and mysticism the story combines ancient English practices of Morris Dancing and the Maypole with Dridic and Celtic legends. Throw in some witchcraft, black and white and Satanism and you have all the makings of a good science fiction story. Actually the story links the magical elements more with superior science than with devil worship and clearly attempts to show that the representations of the horned demons owes more to early visits from aliens than satanism. The rites and rituals thus evolved as ways of communication with the aliens and ways to cope with their powers. This story owes a lot to the earlier Quatermass movie where a strange spaceship is discovered in a London Undergound station in an area dominated by streets with devilish names. It is soon discovered to contain elements of Martian life which have a devilish appearance and which cause the local inhabitants to indulge in group killing and other alien behaviours. There is also a strong undercurrent of the writings of Dennis Wheatly in the script as the devil worshipping practices are measure and correspondent to Christian ones, with the Master assuming the role of the High Priest. Towards the end of the story the portrayal of the Daemon as being intelligent armed with superior science but with a simplistic moral code is a dramatic scary affair but which makes a good point. Highly recommended.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Thoughtful and entertaining, for the most part.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Doctor Who - The Daemons [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Takes a while to get going, and I don't like the ending at all, but inbetween this is among the best of the Jon Pertwee years. The Master attempts to control the power of the awesome Azal, last of the Daemons, for whom Earth is a scientific experiment gone wrong. The more interesting bit, though, is how the Master uses "black magic" to manipulate the miserable townspeople into doing his bidding, and how the Doctor (with help from an eccentric white witch) turns them against him. Actually co-written by producer Barry Letts and Robert Sloman ("The Green Death," "Planet of the Spiders"). Note: the recolorization isn't as good as "The Silurians" or "Terror of the Autons," but the tape includes the original color print of episode 4.
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