Written by Bill Strutton | Directed by Richard Martin | Produced by Verity Lambert | Original air date 03/20/65
Before I watched this last episode, I watched the making of documentary included on the DVD. In it, the various members of the production team are asked about the usual things, sets, costumes, etc. There are a few key takeaways from it - both Verity Lambert and Richard Martin insist on the serial being visual in nature, and how excited they were to take a shot at it. Lambert says she's proud of the ambition and she thinks the serial works. Martin isn't happy with it for the most part, but then he's a director and probably wouldn't have been satisfied unless it was perfect.
Maureen O'Brien, though, the actress who plays Vicki, is asked what she thinks it looks like, and she replies, with a bit of apprehension, "it's amateurish." I'm with O'Brien - I don't want to take away from the sense of pride the production team had of this serial, but they bit off more than they could chew. Some things look okay - the costumes are largely pretty good, which is impressive considering they're all ants, butterflies, and grubs - but the landscapes are dull and the Animus and her environs are pretty dumb looking. The plot is nonsense - in this episode, Vicki leaves the Isop-tope (the weapon that ultimately destroys the Animus) in the Doctor's Astral Map, which wasn't part of the plan. Why she does this, I have no idea. Luckily, Barbara happens along and finds it. The diversion group tries to get the attention of the main Zarbi force by surrounding a single Zarbi and screaming "Zarbi" at it. Why they do this, I have no idea. The Isop-tope is able to destroy the Animus when Barbara holds it close - we don't see anything happen, we don't hear anything happen, the Animus just dies. Why it does, I have no idea.
We're left with so many questions that could have potentially been answered in an interesting way, but weren't - why can the Animus use gold to control other creatures? Why can the Doctor's ring perform a similar function? How did the Animus arrive on Vortis? Do the Menoptra fly through space with some sort of ship? Are the Optera unevolved Menoptra? It just goes on and on. But the production team chose to focus on the visuals without paying much mind to the story, and it really suffers as a result. This is a shallow serial, and I take no pleasure in watching it (and probably never will again). I hate to slam a production fifty years later so hard, but I just can't stand this serial, and I've tried twice now to like it with an open mind.
On to better things, then.
"Doctor Who" puns so far: 2 | Tomorrow: "The Lion"
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