Italy. The 15th 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 15th 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...
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