Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death (Story 48)

Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death (Story 48)
by Michael Ferguson

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DVD Reviews of Doctor Who: The Seeds of Death (Story 48)

DVD Review: End-stage Troughton
Summary: 4 Stars

"Seeds of Death" has always been on the lower region of my own "Doctor Who" rankings. On paper I should love it: I'm a fan of "The Ice Warriors" and "The Curse of Peladon", two other stories featuring the same villainous Martian marauders. I similarly have great fondness for the Season 6 Doctor/companion pairing. Fraser Hines almost never embarrassed himself as an actor during three long seasons. Wendy Padbury, of course, is a doll. Archaic word, but it actually fits. Cutest face ever.

Each of Patrick Troughton's stories -- whether you're watching on TV or merely listening to the surviving audio -- is a seminar on how to play "Doctor Who". You can always count on Troughton for a riveting mixture of physical clowning and top-tier problem solving -- usually at the same time. "Seeds of Death" is notable for a shockingly well-directed madcap chase sequence in Episode 3, as Troughton runs back and forth down the same lone corridor set, making it seem as if he's running for miles. He slips and slides, turns and twists, and does comic double-takes at every distorted mirror reflection. Finally, when the Ice Warriors have him cornered... he talks his way out of it: "Your leader will be very cross with you if you kill me.... I'm a genius!"

However, "Seeds of Death" itself never tickled my imagination the way other stories did. The Ice Warriors, let's face it, aren't well-used here. Slaar (Alan Bennion, who played three different Ice Lords across the years and gave each of them distinct shadings) is only allowed to stand around a control room on the Moon and terrify a dwindling cast of stock BBC actors. The most interesting of these (Harry Towb) is killed off after ten minutes. There's a lot to be said for Terry Scully's nebbishy performance as Fewsham, the moonbase technician who turns traitor to save his own life until he finally summons up the courage to redeem himself with a noble act of self-sacrifice. However, we've seen this performance many other times across the years, so the hurdle is set high. His best moment is the scene in Episode 5, after Fewsham's already made up his mind to betray the Ice Warriors: he's seen standing alone, frowning, wringing his hands, waiting for Slaar to find him. That's quite a good shot.

The DVD builds up a solid case that this story is a neglected Troughton gem. The crowded commentary track features the companions (Hines and Padbury) making cogent remarks about the action -- when they're not busy laughing at Troughton's clowning or about their own slips and line fluffs. Much is made of Jamie's frequent groping of Zoe. You can always count on this reaction when someone asks what it was like to work with the late Troughton: "Ohhhhh" (Similarly, when asked what William Hartnell was like, the reaction is a less enthusiastic "Well..."). Director Michael Ferguson delivers a good account of how he direct ed the story. Since he's speaking 34 years later, it's impressive that he remembers what he does. Script editor Terrance Dicks should be allowed on every commentary track, even for the stories he didn't oversee. The commentary picks up intensity once he shows up for Episode 3. If you don't have time to listen to two hours of actor ramblings, the one episode to listen to is Episode 4, where Ferguson and Dicks discuss the story alone.

A long featurette, amusingly called "Sssowing the Ssseeds", describes how the Ice Warrior costumes were made, and three actors tell us what it was like to work in them. Speaking of costumes, the VidFIRE process that restores the episodes to their original videotape look, works so vividly that you can actually count the paint brushstrokes on the Ice Warrior helmets. The other extras on the bonus disc do not pertain to "Seeds" specifically, but provide archival footage from a dozen other "Troughton" stories that no longer exist.

I find the production-note option increasingly tiresome when Richard Molesworth is the writer. His formula seems to be: provide all the other acting credits of all the other actors in the guest cast; give us the day and the location of the filming of all the model shots; and describe the originally conceived plot of the episode. Only the last of those three items interests me. It's possible to provide fresh text commentary for decades-old "Doctor Who" stories -- see Martin Wiggins' contributions -- so I think Molesworth could depart from the formula without hurting anyone.

At this point in my life, with new "Doctor Who" a year away, I am never going to fall in love with "The Seeds of Death". I may never watch it again. However, the DVD series, with their focus on what *works* (and, more importantly, by getting the story's actors and production team to laugh at the shortcomings), serve the important task of rehabilitating the less-remembered stories, and work hard to dispute the notion that "Doctor Who" was always done on the cheap, without thought. Fair enough. Job well done. Next DVD, please.

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