The level of realism that
hangs around the show in Season 7 is wonderful to see in the show. All four
stories of this season don't waste any time in bringing forth some strong
characterisation and some superb set pieces. The Ambassadors of Death contains
so much that is good along its mammoth seven-episode length. The story is not
totally perfect, but it’s very nearly there.
One of the first things to
strike one about this story is the amount of location work and action scenes.
This is produced brilliantly this story; it looks extremely expensive actually.
The superbly choreographed battle between the UNIT soldiers and General
Carrington's men is a tiny bit epic actually, and looks really good on screen.
Although the way they disobey the General's orders does make them seem just a
band of thugs and not soldiers. As the Doctor quickly discovers the leader of
the men is indeed a soldier, he can’t be a very good one in disobeying clear
instructions.
The second thing one
notices about this story is the very strong scenes sometimes given to Liz Shaw.
Caroline John has always been my favourite third Doctor companion. A superb
moment of the story is when she realises, she's being chased in Bessie by
Reagan's thugs. She was actually pregnant during these scenes and yet she a: can’t
half run and b: is shown to be a really strong woman capable of looking after
herself well. Indeed, she nearly thumps one of the hard nut psychos over a
bridge before finally being subdued by the hard nuts. I love women who are
shown to be quite capable of looking after themselves and not being downtrodden
by idiots. And then she almost escapes but is just unfortunate in running into
Taltallian who takes her back to Reagan's base. William Dysart has to be
applauded for his performance as Reagan, he's a real piece of something else.
His totally inhuman compunction in having people murdered in vile ways makes him
a right freak of nature.
The inclusion of Michael
Wisher as the news reporter brings another layer of realism to the story.
But sometimes in the
scripting this story is a little confusing. But the huge amount of superbly
shot scenes and basic underlying plot are very strong. Another area in which
this story may be just a tad suspect in its writing though is UNIT are
portrayed here as rather foolish and a bit too easily out smarted by the jerk
offs. Several occasions show them as being little more than incompetent
bumblers and I'm not sure a true trained army unit would be quite so easy to
handle.
John Abineri gives a very
fine performance as General Carrington. He really seems to be enjoying the part
and he is never less than 100% convincing in the role of the man who feels
aggrieved at the alien race just because they genuinely did not realise their
touch would be fatal to humanity. His exploiting of the creatures is despicable
and its brilliant when his schemes are at last undone and his plan to unite the
world in an attack against the Ambassadors is overthrown and finally thwarted
when UNIT at last seem to stop being so incompetent and actually start to win
over against Carrington's lackeys.
The realisation of the
ambassadors though is superbly achieved. The scene where Liz is inside the
radiation room with the creatures and one of them pulls of its helmet to reveal
a striking sizzling alien underneath are superbly achieved, this is a stark
moment I always remember well as being a cracking great reveal and one of my
favourite scenes of season 7. It is also genuinely creepy how just a space suit
can be made to look so menacing throughout the story! They really do seem very
unnerving and scary. Maybe the polished direction also aids this look too. The visions
of the Ambassadors extending an arm does look real menacing indeed...
And I must admit that the
ending of this serial does just seem a bit too easy. After all the trouble
Carrington and Reagan have caused UNIT the Doctor just shaking hands with everyone
and leaving them to it seems a bit out of character for the Doctor. Although I
must admit I love the Brig's one on one tussle with Reagan's thug is brilliant,
especially when the idiot is sent careening down a mud bank by our reliable and
triumphant Brig. Although how easily the thugs first of all get the guns off
the UNIT soldiers again is a tad silly if you ask me. Real trained soldiers I’m
sure would be so easy to overcome. UNIT is dire need of shaking up within its
ranks if this is how easy their numbers are fought off! But as this series
never had any army advisor on staff then perhaps I’m being just a tad harsh,
but it does seem a little weird how UNIT is constantly being outfoxed in this
story.
However, despite all the
little niggles I may have this story is still incredibly strong indeed. The
pace does not falter, and the story remains extremely engaging and enthralling
throughout. This story is also clear in helping to shape the third Doctor's
character. I absolutely love the scene with Bessie's anti thief device,
although one could argue if the Doc's security system on Bessie worked even better,
we may not even have had all the events that followed after this! Poor old
Bessie, letting the side down too!
Flaws aside, this still
doesn't stop this story from being one of my all-time favourite Jon Pertwee
stories. It’s all totally different and different from the seasons before. The
acting is never less than superb, with conviction given by the whole cast and
some extremely interesting characters shown along the way. The Ambassadors of
Death is the third story in a set of four stories that are incredibly produced
and performed and it definitely deserves the mantle of a Jon Pertwee classic.
Definitely 9 out of 10 from me. Just a bit of script refinement would have had
it be a 10...
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