Customer Reviews

Doctor Who - Terror of the Zygons [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After a very subpar Cybermen story,the Doctor, Sarah and Harry come back to Earth to help UNIT investigate destroyed oil rigs. What they find are people who aren't what they appear to be, an alien threat and one version of the Loch Ness Monster. This story is full of nice touches, including the Doctor's indignation at being called back about "mineral slime" until the Brigadier reminds him of the loss of life, a look at the Brigadier's Scottish heritage and Harry not being an imbecile. The Zygons are well written with a fascinating technology and deserved to come back, which sadly never happened onscreen. However, their one appearance is well worth getting.

This story has be rated as one of the best ever. Not only are the monsters among the series most convincing (by 1970's Dr Who standards), but the overall atmosphere generated by the direction and production is extremely powerful. Adding to this wonderfully eerie feel, is a superb score by Geoffrey Burgon - the tension created by his music is incredible. For me John Woodnutt steals the show, playing two parts as the lead monster 'Broton', and the 'Duke'. His whispering delivery of the aliens' threat to the world ranks as one of the series most remarkable performances. Some feel that the story is let down by some badly executed animation used for the 'Skarasen' (The Loch Ness Monster). But for me, this only further enhances the appeal of the story: It's not Hollywood special effects that make it work, it's a superb mix of deep characterisation, thoughtful direction and above all, spine-tingling performances from all involved.

The opening story of the thirteenth season has the Doctor, Harry, and Sarah responding to the Brigadier's emergency call that he got at the end of the previous story. Three rigs by the North Sea have been destroyed in one month. First there's a radio blackout, then a weird sound that comes in, and then the rig is destroyed. UNIT is stationed in the nearby village of Tullock, Scotland to investigate.

Some curious markings from the wreckage of the Bonnie Prince Charlie, the rig destroyed at the beginning of the story leads the Doctor to do a study in orthodontology, with a cast of "a set of giant molars than can chew through solid steel as easily as paper." Could it be a manifestations of evil spirits that Angus McRanald, landlord of the inn UNIT is occupying, tells about to Sarah? "Bad luck comes to them who set foot on Tullock Moor" he tells her. But do evil spirits destroy oil rigs?

Another character is the Duke of Forgill, a cynical-looking man with a withering look who is not very pleased with the oil company for two reasons. One, most of his servants have left his employ to work for the oil company, making Forgill Castle a lonely place. Two, roughnecks from the oil company keep trespassing and poaching on his land.

Things get going when Harry is shot while attempting to help the survivor of the Bonnie Prince Charlie, and the climax of Episode One has a Zygon reaching out for Sarah while she's on the phone to the Doctor.

What makes this story interesting is the fact that the Zygons are shape-shifters, and the special effects of their transformations are well-done. The Zygons are aliens who like so many alien invaders, want to conquer Earth. However, the way they intend to do it involves a creature from ancient legend. Hint: UNIT are stationed six or seven miles from Loch Ness.

The Doctor's dismissive comment on oil is clearly inspired by the effects of the 1973 oil crisis. "Oil, an emergency? Huh! It's about time the people who run this planet of yours realize that to be dependent on a mineral slime just doesn't make sense!"

One error is the Doctor telling the Brigadier he's come 270 million miles just to help him. The outermost of the satellites of Jupiter, where the previous story took place, is 370 million miles, so he's off by a factor of 100 million.

The Zygons themselves are well-realized, macrocephalic, fetal-looking aliens with suckers on their body and prominent rib-cages. They were modelled after half-formed embryos in amniotic sacs. As for "Nessy", the director was not too happy with the model realization, so much of the script was rewritten in order not to see much of it. The interior of the Zygon ship, organic like that of the Axons in Claws of Axos, is very realistic and alien.

This would be the last appearance of Nicholas Courtney (the Brigadier) for eight years until he reprised the character in Mawdryn Undead and The Five Doctors. There would be two further UNIT stories without him--The Android Invasion and The Seeds Of Doom. Other trivia: the two bagpipe tunes heard playing are "Strathspey Reel" and "Flowers of the Forest." Also, as location shooting in Scotland proved too expensive, shooting was done around the village of Charlton in Sussex.

Not a bad opener for the season, with the usual cast solid and the Zygons and their ship well-realized, but there isn't that extra oomph to make it a great story.

This is a re-release of a serial that was previously in omnibus format It's a very fast paced story that features Tom Baker at his best also the last serial to feature U.N.I.T and the Harry Sullivan companion. The Location work was great making it seem that it was filmed in Scotland when really filmed in some fabulous locations in the England"One of Tom Baker's best and in original episodic format also has a one minute Disney intro where the Brigadier calls the Doctor back! A Must for any Doctor Who fan!

Not quite in the top tier of all time Doctor who stories, but still great fun with a lot of charming qualities.

The model work in this episode was much higher than in many other episodes. The close up of an oil rig was very good for the time this story was created. Another scene that shows the Zygon ship leaving Lochness was also well done for its time.

While the models are very good the LOchness monster was a dud, though it can be partially explained away since it was suppose to be part cyborg. The Zygons themselves are respectable and it was a brilliant idea to have them whisper orders instead of shout, it makes them seem more alien.

The bagpipe music helped add to the atmosphere and enjoyment of this episode, and this is a fun one to watch. It has some influence perhaps from 'The Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. I like the fact that the Zygon ship is organic and the interior set of the ship is quite convincing.

The Zygons themselves do not have any personal weapons other than brute force. They also never seem to be too big of a threat to the Earth. I mean destroying 1 oil rig at a time may be a nusance but that does not make them that menacing, compared to past and future Doctor Who villians.

This marks the last episode that featured UNIT, though the Brigadeer does return by himself in 'Mawdryn Undead' and 'The Five Doctors'.

The Doctor, Sarah and Harry arrive back on Earth after the Doctor receives a message from the Brigadier that things aren't right at Loch Ness. An incredibly inventive story that has the feel of a Troughton adventure, possibly due to Camfield's careful direction and camera angles. And it looks as though the production team is still trying to feel their way around(as well as Baker) in establishing the Doctor's fourth incarnation. The Zygons themselves are presented to the audience very well, and the story has some effectively scary moments. There is some overblown dialogue here and there, but certainly doesn't distract the viewer. The special effects are "night and day", and shouldn't take away from the enjoyment of this adventure. And even though the bonus video at the beginning isn't as long as "The Face of Evil" or "The War Machines" release, it's still enjoyable, especially in its episodic format.

This is a re-release of a serial that was previously in omnibus format It's a very fast paced story that featuresTom Baker at his best also thelast serial to feature U.N.I.Tand the Harry Sullivan companion. The Location work was great making it seem that it was filmed in Scotland when really filmed in some fabulous locations in the U.K."One of Tom Baker's best and in original episodic format alsohas a one minute Disney into where the Brigadier calls the Doctor back! A Must for any Doctor Who fan!

The Bad

This story should be considered pure junk in any case. The Skarsean ranks up there with Dinosaurs in Invasion of the Dinosaurs and the Kroll as one of the most poorly realized monsters and the Zygons themselves are pretty generic aliens. On top of all that it's a pretty routine alien invasion story However.........................

The Good
it's a damn good one. In spite of the flaws. The location filming is excellent and the scenes in the Zygon ship are quite good. Also after being treated as comedy relief in the last few stories UNIT are returned to their proper form as a crack military investigation squad and not the cozy "family" it was portrayed as after Jon Pertwee's first season. And Nicholas Courtney seems to be enjoying himself unlike in Robot where he had this "Oh god this horrible stuff." look in Robot and someone finally dragged him to a barber. Harry get's more to do than previously and Ian Marter does good as the Zygon disgused Harry. Also despite it looking shoddy it was about friggin time Doctor Who delved into the legend of Loch Ness Monster. Not a classic but fun.

The Ugly

You mean other than the Zygons.

Apart from one of the cheesiest monsters ever invented(except Godzilla in Japan, of course!), this is a vast improvement on Revenge Of The Cybermen and has atmospheric aliens, brilliant dialogue, nice location shooting, great special effects and Geoffrey Holder's music rises high above Dudley Simpson's very un-spectacular music around that time that slowed some of Baker's adventures to a walking pace.

PRODUCT CAME ON TIME, BUT WAS BROKEN. I HAD TO TAKE A DOOR OFF AN OLD TAPE AND REPLACE THE BROKEN DOOR.