Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television series which has been around off and on since 1963. The main character is just known as “The Doctor” and is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. This means he travels through time to various places. One of his favorite places to visit is Earth. Typically, he has a companion traveling with him, usually female, sometimes male, sometimes one of each. He travels in a time machine known as a “Tardis” which is disguised as a British Police booth.

A Time Lord can regenerate if fatally wounded, which has accounted for all the different actors who have played The Doctor throughout the years. In these episodes, aired in the beginning of 1969, he is portrayed by Patrick Troughton.

In the future, Earth has developed a teleportation technology known as T-Mat. They have also stopped looking for life outside of our solar system and are no longer exploring space. They do have a pivotal T-Mat station on the moon which begins experiencing a series of difficulties.

Meanwhile, The Doctor, and his traveling companions, Jamie and Zoe (portrayed by Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury) land at a museum which has a collection of the various vehicles once used for space exploration. When the T-Mat station at the moon goes out and can't be reached, Commander Radnor (portrayed by Ronald Leigh-Hunt) turns to the museum's owner, Professor Daniel Eldred (portrayed by Philip Ray), for help. There's no other way to get to the moon except by rocket, but no one is able to man it. Since the Doctor knows the most about space travel, he, Jamie, and Zoe use one to travel to the moon. Why they don't just hop in the TARDIS, I don't know.

On the relay station, the crew have been captured by a militant martian race who calls themselves Ice Warriors. Only one of the crew goes along with the plans the Ice Warriors have. The rest remain defiant and try to warn Earth about the threat of invasion from this race. Two of the crew are killed.

While the story in Seeds of Death is fun in a lot of ways, the plot holes make it quite contrived at times. It also gets its material from a variety of other sources, most notably the way the Ice Warriors are about to invade being ripped off from Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

The depiction of the Ice Warriors is decent. As an enemy of the Doctor and Earth, they are pretty fearsome. This is not so much for their technology, but rather for their personality. They have no qualms about slaughtering anyone who stands in the way of their plans. While the costuming may leave something to be desired by today’s standards, it’s quite a bit of fun for this time period.

The acting is good. I am actually starting to enjoy Troughton in the role quite a bit. He brings a very distinct quality to the Doctor. He seems to have an earnestness to prove himself worthwhile to the universe and in that respect jumps in to help at every opportunity. It’s a quality that’s seen in the Doctor throughout the series after Troughton’s turn as the character as each regeneration seems to leave something behind for others to build on.

I liked Jamie and Zoe as companions quite a bit. Zoe especially is depicted as a strong, smart woman which is something special during these years. Even in 1978, Battlestar Galactica struggled to depict women as fighter pilots. In 1969, Doctor Who managed to make a better female character. Wendy Padbury is excellent in the role as well, not coming off at all like a wilting violet but rather as brash and unafraid.

The less courageous role falls to Jamie, but he is also a bit of comic relief. Frazer Hines portrays him as somewhat goofy and it works as it’s not overdone.

The guest cast is good and do the best they can with some very difficult parts. Commander Radnor in particular seems terribly weak for someone who has risen to his stature in the world. Again, the female role of Gia Kelley seems much stronger.

The special effects are pretty laughable. The weapons the Ice Warriors use emit what looks like a bright light, as if the camera is put close to a lightbulb that is turned on and then shut off again after a short time. Don’t even get me started on the fungus which appears to be straight out of The Brady Bunch episode where one of the kids put too much detergent in the washer.

Filmed in black and white , the restoration is pretty good. I saw little to no interference or snow in the picture and it was fairly clear for the era it’s coming from. The sound was pretty clear and even, as I rarely had to adjust the volume while viewing it.

Overall, Seeds of Death was decent if uneven. What made the story work were the actors and the roles which were written stronger. I don’t usually expect much in special effects from Doctor Who, but it was pretty bad here, as were some of the plot contrivances. I would definitely recommend it to series fans, but most others won’t appreciate it..


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Commentary with Director Michael Ferguson, Wendy Padbury, and Frazer Hines
• Information Text
• New Zealand Censor Clips
• 40th Anniversary Celebration
• The Last Dalek
• Tardis Cam No. 6
• Sssowing the Ssseedsss
• Who's Who
• Photo Gallery


Doctor Who on DVD: 



The First Doctor (William Hartnell) 

The Beginning Collection ~ The Keys of Marinus ~ The Aztecs ~ The Dalek Invasion of Earth ~ The Rescue/The Romans ~ The Web Planet ~ The Time Meddler ~ Lost In Time ~ The War Machines

The Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) 

Lost In Time ~ The Tomb of the Cybermen ~ The Mind Robber ~ The Invasion ~ The Seeds of Death ~ The War Games

The Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) 

Spearhead from Space  ~ Doctor Who and the Silurians ~ Inferno ~ The Claws of Axos ~ The Sea Devils ~ The Three Doctors ~ Carnival of Monsters ~ The Green Death ~ The Time Warrior 

The Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker) 

Robot ~ The Ark in Space ~ The Sontaran Experiment ~ Genesis of the Daleks ~ Planet of Evil ~ Pyramids of Mars ~ The Brain of Morbius ~ The Hand of Fear ~ The Deadly Assassin ~ The Robots of Death ~ The Talons of Weng Chiang ~ The Horror of Fang Rock ~ The Invisible Enemy ~ The Invasion of Time ~ The Ribos Operation ~ The Pirate Planet ~ The Stones of Blood ~ The Androids of Tara ~ The Power of Kroll ~ The Armageddon Factor ~ Destiny of the Daleks ~ City of Death ~ The Leisure Hive ~ The E Space Trilogy ~ The Keeper of Traken ~ Logopolis 

The Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison) 

Castrovalva ~ Four to Doomsday ~ The Visitation ~ Black Orchid ~ Earthshock ~ Time-Flight ~ Arc of Infinity ~ Black Guardian Trilogy ~ The Five Doctors ~ Warriors of the Deep ~ Resurrection of the Daleks ~ The Caves of the Androzani 

The Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) 

The Twin Dilemma ~ Attack of the Cybermen ~ Vengeance on Varos ~ The Mark of the Rani ~ The Two Doctors ~ Timelash ~ Revelation of the Daleks ~ The Trial of a Time Lord

The Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) 

Delta and the Bannermen ~ Remembrance of the Daleks ~ Battlefield ~ Ghost Light ~ The Curse of Fenric ~ Survival 

The Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann) 

Doctor Who - The Movie

The Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) 

Doctor Who 2005 - The Complete First Series 

The Tenth Doctor (David Tennant) 

Doctor Who 2006 - The Complete Second Series ~ Doctor Who 2007 - The Complete Third Series ~ The Infinite Quest ~ Doctor Who 2008 - The Complete Fourth Series ~ The Next Doctor  ~ Planet of the Dead ~ The Waters of Mars ~ The Next Doctor ~ The End of Time

The Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith)

Doctor Who 2010 - The Complete Fifth Series


DOCTOR WHO MOVIES

The Doctor Who Collection: Doctor Who and the Daleks ~ Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 A.D.


OTHER RELATED SERIES:

Torchwood Series One ~ Torchwood Series Two ~ Torchwood Children of Earth

The Sarah Jane Chronicles




© 2007 Patti Aliventi

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD