The Stones Of Blood (1978) Review

I love everything I see here.

The Stones Of Blood marks a splendid return to Earth after the many wacky adventures we've had lately. It is also an occasion: I have officially watched 100 Classic Doctor Who stories!!

WRITTEN BY

David Fisher, who will go on to write a few more scripts under Graham Williams. Judging from this, he's a great writer. The story is simple and easy to follow, the characters are kept to a minimum and thus their full potential is explored and there's a lot of variety in the story.

PLOT

The TARDIS tracks the third segment of the Key To Time to somewhere in 20th century Cornwall, where the Doctor and Romana stumble upon a satanic ritual. Before long, they team up with the befuddled professor Remford and her assistant to uncover the alien influence behind the cult...

ANALYSIS

This is probably one of the most basic Doctor Who stories ever. The Doctor just comes in, solves the mystery, deals with the villain, goes back to the TARDIS. No UNIT filler, no subplots, nothing. Just good old teamwork.
I can imagine putting this story on anytime, it just flows so well. It's very relaxing, yet interesting too.

I love the final episode most of all, when half of it is spent on the excellent repartee between the professor, Romana and K-9 whilst the other half focuses on the Doctor's trial at the hands of the Megara, a truly fantastic Doctor Who creation. Basically, they're like a slightly more serious version of the robots in Dinosaurs On A Spaceship who operate as "justice machines"(judge, jury and executioner) who are trying to determine whether the Doctor should be executed for a minor crime.

CHARACTERS

Tom Baker is back on form after a few questionable performances recently(presumably because of the presence of acting legend Beatrix Lehmann) and seems to actually enjoy himself for the first time in a long while.

Romana... that red dress. *swoooon*

Susan Engel is a bit unsubtle, isn't she? I take one look at her and I'm already on edge. She has that syrupy Dolores Umbridge sweetness. Brrrrrr!

And then of course we have Beatrix Lehmann, who gives a wonderfully natural, slightly odd performance as professor Amelia Rumford(wouldn't it be an epic twist if Moffat somehow had her be future Amy Pond? Or am I just overthinking it?). Just like Grandma Tyler in Image Of The Fendahl, she feels real in a way that just elevates the whole thing.

NOTES

*Is that robot in Romana's cell a leftover prop from The Android Invasion? Can't see why else they'd have kept it in... EDIT: I was just kidding, but YES, that is actually an android from that story. They also had a Wirrn and an off-screen Sea Devil. I wonder if it was another attempt to celebrate or just to show off the various species that had been trapped there? 

*If Tom Baker refused to film the cliffhanger to Episode One, couldn't they get a stunt double? It'd actually be creepier if we didn't see his face...

*How does this correlate with Frontier In Space and The Magician's Apprentice, where hyperspace is commonplace and it's even implied that the TARDIS travels through it?

*There's like a bajillion different things to celebrate this season. Not only is this story the 100th Doctor Who serial, but it's also technically the 15th anniversary "special". AND in a few stories, we'll have Doctor Who's 500th episode. Goodness gracious me. 

*Speaking of anniversaries, a scene was almost added in where Romana and K-9 surprise the Doctor with a birthday cake, but this was cut pre-production by Graham Williams, who thought it was too indulgent. I ask you, how is celebrating the show's 15th anniversary indulgent? And we're talking about Graham Williams here!! It would've been a lovely addition. 

*Does the Doctor ever wear his scarf properly? I don't think I've seen him properly tie it around his neck since season 13. I'm only saying this because I recently watched the clip from Robot when the Doctor first reveals his costume and it looks incredibly tidy compared to nowadays. Hat, scarf around his neck, perfect. Now the hat barely even leaves the TARDIS and the scarf is just sort of vaguely around his shoulders.

*You can tell that the TARDIS exterior has had some reworking done. The upper section looks a lot flatter.

*Well, the Doctor certainly got cosy there with Romana before that transport beam, eh...?

*Shouldn't the Doctor have been immediately prevented from taking the Diplos necklace by the Megara? Or did they just add it onto his "list" of crimes.

*Also, I'd love to see the Megara again. They did leave a nice opening for a return appereance, with the Doctor a fugitive and all.

*How come the Doctor initially says that the Megara wiped out a whole galaxy after condemning the Federation, but then they seem to have police officers and stuff? This is never brought up again, so did I hear mishear it?

*I don't like Vivien's costume. The silver body paint just looks silly(although the cleavage is admittedly nice, if I can be sexist for a moment).

*Whilst I love the words "inner time", I have no idea what they mean. I don't think Tom Baker does either.

*Isn't hyperspace a form of space travel? How can the ship be standing over the stone circle and still be in hyperspace?

CONCLUSION

It's a lot of fun, intelligent and requires no serious thinking. A classic.