Wednesday, 4 March 2020

Who Reviews The Ambassadors of Death by Matt Rabjohns



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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