The Seeds Of Death (1969) Review

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The Seeds Of Death is brilliant. It's a gripping story with a sense of scale, a great blend of slapstick comedy and drama, with a moral message(don't put all your eggs into one basket) to boot.

PLOT

In the future(before or after the new Ice Age, who knows?), the Ice Warriors take over Earth's solitary transportation method, the T-Mat, which is controlled via a moonbase. The TARDIS crew arrives on Earth and as usual, hijinks ensue.

I absolutely love it. Not only does it include many trademarks of the Troughton era, it's also incredibly well done(the rocket crossing) and very entertaining, with a cool, almost realistic rendition of the future. The atmosphere is morbid in a good way. But let's get to the best part...

CHARACTERS

Terry Scully is the best guest star on classic Doctor Who so far. His character, Fewsham is both realistic to perfection and an absolute joy to behold. Every neurotic motion, every look on his face reeks of genuine desperation to escape the Ice Warriors... but not with any cost. He's an unforgettable one-off hero.

Patrick Troughton(sideburns are cool) is fantastic, giving one of his best performances of the season. I loved his interactions with Slaar, the Ice Lord(they never mention his rank on-screen btw) and the scenes with Jamie and Zoe inside the rocket.

Jamie and Zoe are relatively underused, but they do get moments to shine here and there. I loved Wendy Padbury cracking up in Episode 6.

Slaar himself is a nice, chilling bad guy whom the story needed as the face of evil. Alan Bennion is awesome. The Ice Warriors themselves though, are the weakest point of the story. To be honest, they're pathetic. Wobbling about, never firing their weapons at the right time, coming up with the most not-failproof plan since the Daleks tried scooping up the Earth's core and driving the planet around. If they were Yeti, I could live with it, but the Martians deserve so much more.

The guy playing the Grand Marshal was just lame. He didn't even try to do an Ice Warrior voice!

The Earth guys range from alright(Radnor and Kelly) to endearing(prof. Eldred).

NOTES

*How did Eldred get the First Doctor's astral map? Did he steal the Time-Space Visualiser too?

*I'm not an expert on fungi, but how exactly does it generate foam?

*Awesome Benny Hill chase.

*Why is everyone so mean to Fewsham? I wouldn't fire my employee if someone pointed a gun at him and forced him to rob a bank.

*The way he saves the day is so satisfying.

*I thought the intro looks really cool(notably, there was one on The Ice Warriors too).

*This is the second story to involve teleportation and see the Doctor travel through space via conventional methods. The first was The Daleks' Master Plan.

*Yay, no more "" on the titles!

*I'm getting really tired of the story just ending after the chaps get back inside the TARDIS. It makes the show feel a bit static, like nothing happens between going in and coming out.

*Finally, some real roundels! What's happened to the walls, it's been all paintings lately?

CONCLUSION

Troughton's greatest hits.