Meggin Watches Doctor Who: The Masque of Mandragora

Italy. The 15^th century. And an alien energy wanting to take over humanity. It’s another day for the Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith to stop hostile aliens from invading the Earth.

            While the Doctor and Sarah are taking a stroll through the TARDIS, Sarah discovers another control room that seems to fit the Doctor’s tastes better than the original one. However, when the Doctor activates the viewscreen, they discover that the TARDIS is drifting towards a peculiar time vortex that the Doctor says is called the Mandragora (pronounced man-DRAH-gohr-uh) Helix. And the Helix is drawing them in.

            After discovering that the intelligence of the Helix has landed them inside the Helix itself, the Doctor and Sarah quickly dodge behind the TARDIS to avoid a moving fragment of the Helix energy. Once the coast is clear, they head back into the TARDIS and dematerialise from the Helix, unaware that the fragment of the Helix followed them.

            The TARDIS lands in 15^th century Italy, and the Doctor and Sarah step out and enjoy the Earthly atmosphere, unknowing that the energy fragment has left the time machine as well and is affecting a devoted star-gazing cult.

            The Doctor and Sarah, after a tussle with the Brethren of Demnos, the cult hidden in San Martino’s catacombs, are taken to the city’s ruler, Guiliano, of which the situation is relayed to them.

            Guiliano’s uncle, Count Federico, has formed an alliance with the court’s astrologer, Hieronymous, so Federico can tell Guiliano that the late Duke of San Martino (Guiliano’s father) died at the fate of the stars, when it was really Federico’s doing. Federico wishes to be Duke, and so asks Hieronymous to make a “prediction” of Guiliano’s death so the throne can at last belong to the Count’s. But Hieronymous, secretly the leader of the Brethren of Demnos, has his heart set on gaining power over everyone on Earth after he is gifted with the presence of the Mandragora Helix, giving him ultimate power.

            The Doctor, discovering this, realises he must destroy the cult of Demnos’ temple in order to stop the energy of Mandragora from taking control of the Earth. He has until the end of the night’s lunar eclipse to return Mandragora to where it belongs...

            This episode is a great way to start off a new season of Doctor Who: it’s set on Earth, with costumes fit for Italians instead of aliens, and as the Dark Ages of Italy turns into the Renaissance, the history that we know of becomes threatened.

            I love that this episode is set in Italy. When I first glimpsed the Italians, I couldn’t help but remember Amy Pond from the new series saying, “Invasion of the hot Italians” (The Pandorica Opens). And for once, unlike that of the new series, the Italians actually look somewhat Italian (new Who failed on that with Vampires of Venice). The fifteenth century is also the time when the Italians step out of the Dark Ages and step into the light of the Renaissance era. People started applying art, science, and mathematics to everything. Religion was slowly being turned down for more technological advances. You see that this episode focuses on the area of astrology; Hieronymous consulted the stars and composed daily horoscopes for himself and the people living in the palace of San Martino. He could even decipher death in stars, having predicted Guiliano’s father’s death and Count Federico’s. One can also see that there were still some who refused to adapt to new forms of science. Guiliano considered horoscopes blasphemy in comparison to religion, but his views become somewhat altered when the Doctor steps into the palace, saying he is a man from the stars.

            One reference that I did notice was the relationship between Guiliano and his companion, Marcus (a GINGER Italian; so awesome). The way Guiliano confides in Marcus and also at times asks him for advice reminds me of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Horatio. The most recent version of Hamlet that I’ve seen is the Royal Shakespeare Company’s modernised film version with David Tennant (more commonly known for his role as the Tenth Doctor on Doctor Who), and the Hamlet-Horatio relationship portrayed in Masque of Mandragora reminds me of this.

            I also love Sarah’s dress in this. I bought one similar to this for the summer (before watching this episode...shows how much Sarah and I have in common...), and now whenever I wear it, I’ll imagine myself back in fifteenth century Italy...

            One funny scene-turned-serious that I love in this episode is when the Doctor is choosing a mask for Guiliano’s masked ball (apparently Leonardo da Vinci was there...). It’s the first time I noticed that Sarah points out that the Doctor jokes around not only to relieve tension, but to make light of grim situations. As the Doctor dons a lion’s head (VERY similar to that of Luna Lovegood’s), the conversation turns.

           Sarah: You know, the worse the situation, the worse your jokes get.

            (Doctor takes off the mask)

            Doctor: I think I’ll settle for the lion.

            Sarah: Things are bad, aren’t they?

            Doctor: Yes.

            Sarah: Very bad?

            Doctor: Desperately bad, but we can only do our best and hope.

            The Masque of Mandragora is the penultimate (next-to-last) serial in my classic Doctor-and-Sarah Doctor Who marathon of the summer. Up next is The Hand of Fear, which chronicles the last adventure Sarah Jane ever has with the Doctor for a long, long time. I’ll be sure to have several tissue boxes at the ready next weekend...

Meggin Watches Doctor Who: The Seeds of Doom

Back on Earth, scientists exploring the Antarctic discover a pod unlike anything anyone’s ever seen buried in the frozen snow, estimating to be lodged in the ice for about twenty thousand years. Fearing a work of the alien nature, the scientists call on UNIT’s scientific specialist, the Doctor (with Sarah Jane Smith tagging along), to analyse the pod and find out if it could be a danger to humanity.

            The Doctor and Sarah arrive at the wintry scene via transportation from UNIT (really? Couldn’t the Doctor just travel by TARDIS?) and discover that the pod is in fact alien: a Krynoid species seeking heat, waiting to thaw and then latch on to the nearest human, and then take over the world by influencing all the plants to strangle humans to death.

            The Doctor, having heard of the Krynoids before, is aware that the Krynoid pods travel in pairs, and goes out into the freezing cold to find the second pod. After finding the second pod, the first is destroyed in a time bomb explosion that blows up the base where the scientists lived. The second pod gets plucked from the Doctor’s hands and is taken back to England, where it is placed in the care of a plant-obsessed man. In a special six-part story, it is up to the Doctor and Sarah to safely get rid of the last pod before it takes over the Earth.

            I was reminded of M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening halfway through watching The Seeds of Doom. Except the plants are controlled by the Krynoid and involve strangling humans, not releasing suicidal gas. I suppose it’s a mildly common fear to be attacked by plants, as they actually have the potential to kill us all.

            On the subject of the Krynoid, the costuming and makeup for the Krynoid-infected humans is spectacular for its time. Really, just wow. It makes the Krynoids seem so realistic and scary. I certainly wouldn’t want to be slowly transfigured into a green, leafy alien.

And after a couple days, you can end up looking like this:

            Upon watching this episode, I noticed that the picture quality is superb. The previous story I watched was The Brain of Morbius, re-released on DVD in 2008; The Seeds of Doom was re-released just late last year, and you can tell the difference in the picture quality between the two stories. It certainly is one of the stories I just have to buy on DVD (yeah, I watched this via Netflix).

            Whenever the Doctor is around humans, particularly on Earth, he always shouts much more often than when he’s surrounded by anyone who isn’t human. I’ve seen this particularly in this episode, and many episodes in the newer version of the show. Whenever the Doctor encounters a human who possesses greatness and brilliant potential and uses these things to thwart humanity, he gets so cross. I think this is because the Doctor always views humanity as beautiful, and the human race reminds him of his home planet, and any human who turns down the evil path is like the bad side of Time Lords. I don’t think the Doctor wants humans to turn into the Time Lords, so he gently nudges us in the right direction. Now that I think about it, it seems that the Doctor wants to preserve us, in a way: we should only progress and advance for the better, but if we do something wrong, the Doctor must do something about it.

            The Doctor and Sarah get put under a lot of violent stress in this episode. While in Antarctica, the Doctor and Sarah are attacked by the Krynoid-infected human while trying to stop the time bomb. They end up having to escape without disabling the bomb, and have to trump through the outrageous cold until someone finds them. Mr Chase, the obsessive plant collector in England, attempts to feed the Doctor and Sarah to a compost grinder. Mr Chase’s armed guards keep pushing around the Doctor and Sarah. Mr Chase’s hired henchman, Mr Scorby, uses violent methods to get what he wants. As Sarah tells Scorby:

                        Sarah: You’re not complete unless you’ve got a gun in your hand.

Obviously, hired man-servants are meant to feel this way. For example, Butler from the Artemis Fowl series has been trained since he was born to fight, and follows close behind his master with several weapons up his sleeve. On the wrong side, Scorby is a horrible, terrifying baddie, but on the off-chance he happens to be stuck on the good side, he proves to be of great use.

            I was surprised at the extended absence of the Brigadier! When the Doctor demanded to reach the Brig to inform him of the Krynoid, some other UNIT official informed the Doctor that he’s still away in Geneva. After watching this episode, I did some research and found out that The Seeds of Doom is the Doctor’s last adventure of which he affiliates with UNIT until the special The Five Doctors, and even then, UNIT appeared only briefly. Could the Doctor have fallen out with UNIT, of which he was celebrated as their best scientific advisor? And after all these years, Martha Jones calls the Doctor back to UNIT in series four of the new Who, and the Doctor insists that UNIT’s tactic of “shoot first, ask later” isn’t his style. This saddens me so (a bit; like the Doctor, I’m not a big fan of UNIT’s style, either) because I really wanted to see Harry Sullivan (of whom I was particularly fond of), the Brigadier, and even Sergeant Benton reprise their roles. Well, thankfully, the Brig returned for an episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures…

            One minor reason why I love this episode (almost as much as Genesis of the Daleks and Robot) is that Sarah has FOUR outfits in the span of six episodes. I’m among many, many fans in the world who absolutely adore Sarah’s style, and I’m glad she’s had the time to change into several outfits in this episode.

          Season thirteen of Doctor Who has a certain dark, Gothic theme to it, as I’ve explained in greater detail in my previous review of The Brain of Morbius. This episode is the last of this goosebump-enthralling season with its superstitious season number, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint.

Meggin Watches Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius

The planet is called Karn. It is dark, cloudy, gloomy, and overall gothic. The Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith, taking the shortcut back to UNIT via the TARDIS after their encounter with Androids trying to take over the Earth in The Android Invasion, have been driven off course to Karn. What caused the TARDIS to land there? Who caused it? And are they friend or foe..?

            The Doctor, seriously peeved at what he assumes is the Time Lords for taking them to Karn, sits and patiently waits outside the TARDIS for the Time Lords to make their appearance. But his notions change when Sarah discovers a headless Mutt, or Mutant: an alien race from the Doctor’s past. As lightning illuminates the strange surroundings for a moment, Sarah glimpses a wide, rugged terrain littered with wrecked space ships. What could possibly cause all the ships to crash? As lightning continues to brighten the sky, Sarah also discovers a castle. As it starts to rain on the time-space-travelling duo, they head towards the castle for shelter, and hopefully some answers.

            Upon knocking at the door of the castle, the two gain entry and are introduced to its inhabitants: a well-skilled surgeon named Solon, of whose work the Doctor is familiar, and Solon’s Igor-like servant, Condo. As Solon helps remove the waterlogged coats of the travellers, he appears to gaze more often at the Doctor’s head, as if forming calculations of it to himself...

            The Doctor and Sarah engage in conversation with Solon and learn more of Karn and its inhabitants. They are informed of the Sisterhood of Karn that lies near the castle.

The Sisterhood, once on friendly terms with the Time Lords, worship the Elixir of Life, a powerful draught made from the Flame of Life that rises from the planet’s core to the surface. The Elixir has the power to cure fatal wounds, bestow immortality, and, for Time Lords, help the regeneration process. But the Flame runs low, and the Sisterhood fears that the Time Lords are stealing the Elixir for themselves. One member of the Sisterhood, having seen the Doctor and Sarah land on Karn earlier, informs the leader of the Sisterhood of the Time Lord’s presence, and the leader, who assumes the Doctor is here to steal the Elixir, plots to capture the Doctor and make him suffer for his crime.

As the Doctor is prepared for burning at the stake by the Sisterhood, Solon, discovering that the Doctor has been taken from the castle, confronts the Sisterhood and demands to save the Doctor’s head for his latest experiment. Failing at his attempt, the Sisterhood begin the ritual of burning, but are cut short by the Doctor’s escape, thanks to Sarah.

Soon, all is revealed: Solon’s latest experiment is to reanimate the body and mind of Morbius, an exiled and executed Time Lord. The brain of Morbius survived the brutal execution, and Solon, devoted to the memory of Morbius, has for many years faithfully recreated him with the organs of bodies from the wrecked space ships. Only the head is left, and the head is the most crucial part of the surgery. The head must perfectly encase the brain of Morbius, and unfortunately, the Doctor’s looks like a perfect fit...

I have noticed that this season of Doctor Who (season thirteen!) has much more scary elements than its previous seasons. Terror of the Zygons: The Loch Ness Monster is not just a legend. Planet of Evil: Jekyll and Hyde-like attributes caused by chemical alterations from antimatter. Pyramids of Mars: Mummies do the bidding of an ancient Egyptian god. The Android Invasion: No, you’re not seeing double – it’s actually an evil robot in your likeness. The next serial after Morbius is called The Seeds of Doom, and the title itself sounds chilling. The Brain of Morbius certainly reminds me of many gothic films I’ve seen: Frankenstein, Sweeney Todd, Dracula, and even some elements of The Nightmare Before Christmas (although that was a couple decades after Morbius). In fact, the producer of this episode was thinking of Frankenstein when imagining the story of Morbius. In 1976, gothic stories and films were being released left and right, and the society loved it. So why not make a darker season of Doctor Who?

The setting is definitely eerie and it gave me goosebumps when I first saw the serial. The fog machine has been working overtime on the set; fog shrouds the ground and rises several feet whenever one attempts to walk through it. It’s just like stepping into a Halloween theme park. Yes, this episode is definitely perfect for a night in on Halloween.

I’ve never heard about Morbius before watching this serial (I didn’t even know he was a Time Lord...), but from what I’ve learnt about him in this episode, he sounds like one of the most dangerous Time Lords that ever lived, perhaps even rivalling the Master. When Solon reveals that he has been reconstructing Morbius, I thought that meant out of humanoid parts, so as to give Morbius a body similar to his last incarnation. But I never expected Morbius to be reconstructed out of the parts of all sorts of aliens...

In this particular series, the Doctor and Sarah appear have this new, close relationship towards each other. It’s not romantic, more like very close friendship. In the previous serial, The Android Invasion, while walking through the Earth-resembling town in the opening of the first episode, they engage in friendly conversation that is utterly witty and hilarious. One cracks jokes while the other smiles and hastily replies with another quip. It’s just smile-worthy, and it makes me wish for the adventures of the Doctor and Sarah to never end.

I can’t help but point out the new jacket that the Doctor is wearing...It’s a brilliant grey one, and reminds me of the Eleventh Doctor’s tweed jacket with the elbow patches. I hope to see this – and the return of the red jacket – in future episodes.

            So, with stifled thanks to the Sisterhood for an act of kindness, the Doctor and Sarah leave Karn and go...where? Well, The Seeds of Doom is sitting next to me, so I’ll find out soon...