Saturday 31 December 2011

404 Terror of the Zygons Part Three

EPISODE: Terror of the Zygons Part Three
OVERALL EPISODE NUMBER: 404
STORY NUMBER: 080
TRANSMITTED: 13 September 1975
WRITER: Robert Banks-Stewart
DIRECTOR: Douglas Camfield
SCRIPT EDITOR: Robert Holmes
PRODUCER: Philip Hinchcliffe
FORMAT: VHS: Doctor Who Terror of the Zygons

Harry lunges at the Skarasen's controls in the Zygon ship, allowing the Doctor to escape. Benton searches the pub for surveillance devices so the Broton orders the Zygons to have the monitor link, embedded in the stag's head hanging on the wall, removed. The Doctor, Brigadier & Sarah visit the Duke of Forgill and ask to depth charge the loch to destroy the monster. The Duke dismisses their suggestions. Angus, the pub landlord, discovers the bug but is disturbed by Sister Lamont from the infirmary who turns into a Zygon and kills him, removing the bug. Benton hears Angus' screams and with some men pursues the Zygon into the woods. The Doctor thinks that the Oil Company have built their base on the monster's root to the sea. They're called to the forest by Benton, but Sarah stays to research the monster in the Duke's library. The Zygon returns to it's human form, attacking a UNIT soldier and steeling his jeep. Seeing the stag's head, now missing it's eye, The Doctor deduces that the Duke, who brought the head to the pub, must be a Zygon. Sarah discovers a secret passage in the library which leads down and into the Zygon spaceship. The Duke discovers she has found the passage and left the door open. Sister Lamont arrives at the hall and Broton, disguised as the Duke orders her taken to the ship. Sarah finds Harry and, once she's sure he's him and not a Zygon, she releases him. They find the Doctor & Brigadier looking for them: The Doctor goes into the passage but is captured by the Zygons who announce to the other that they are leaving and going to take over the world. The Brigadier depth charges the lake to force the Zygon ship to the surface. The Zygon ship emerges from the water and flies off in a southerly direction.

That was a cracking episode: Another Zygon name revealed: Odda, the one impersonating Sister Lamont. As it is the Zygon's plan, beyond conquer the Earth, is still not clear. I'm not writing a lot in praise of these episodes but my goodness they are good stuff and well done. Sadly after praising an effect in the last episode I now find that the shots of the Skarasen moving past the Doctor in this one aren't that good.

The cast for this story features a few familiar faces. John Woodnutt plays both his grace, the Duke of Forgill and the Zygon Warlord Broton. He was George Hibbert in Spearhead from Space and the Draconian Emperor in Frontier in Space. He'll return as Seron in The Keeper of Traken, and will later play Sir Watkyn Bassett in the Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie Jeeves and Wooster as well as Merlin & Mogdred in the adventure game program Knightmare. Angus, the pub landlord, is played by Angus Lennie who was Storr in The Ice Warriors and found fame as Shughie McFee in Crossroads. Robert Russell, playing The Caber was a Guard in The Power of the Daleks and Keith Ashley, a Zygon, we've recently seen as a Dalek in Genesis of the Daleks and will shortly see as a Kraal android in The Android Invasion.

Doctor Who is known for striking fear and terror into it's junior viewers so it's little surprise that the word TERROR has popped up in a few story titles:

The Keys of Marinus 4: The Snows of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Chase 4: Journey Into Terror
The Macra Terror
Terror of the Autons
Terror of the Zygons

There's a FEAR story on the horizon shortly so we'll list the other FEAR titles then.

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