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 this episode, the Doctor is portrayed by Tom Baker. He is traveling with Sarah Jane (portrayed by Elisabeth Sladen).

The two land the TARDIS in a quarry just as there's about to be a detonation. The Doctor gets through pretty much unharmed, while Sarah is buried beneath the rubble. Surrounded by the rock, she discovers a fossilized arm. Her screams draw the rescuers to her, and she's taken from the rock still clutching the arm. Although it's taken away for examination, apparently that short exposure was enough for it to have an effect on her. When she comes around in the hospital, the alien villain to whom the arm belonged has taken over her mind.

Meanwhile, the Doctor is attempting to find out more information about where the arm came from. He follows Sarah after she steals the hand and heads to a nearby nuclear power plant. Apparently, the alien is going to try to use the nuclear radiation to regenerate itself. Once the alien accomplishes that, it shows itself in humanoid form as a female named Eldrad.

It was 150 million years ago that Eldrad was banished from her planet. Now she wants the Doctor to move through time to take her back. He agrees to take her back, but only in the present time rather than back to the time she was banished. What they find seems to be a barren wasteland, but there's more to the planet beneath the surface.

The Hand of Fear marks the final story-arc in the tenure of Sarah Jane as the Doctor’s companion. She was one of the better ones, although there were highs and lows in her storyline, usually the result of poorly written stories where her character displayed less strength of character. However, these were offset by the many times she held her own opposite the Doctor and proved to be more than just an equal to him. The Hand of Fear overall really does capture that essence; there are parts that are truly great and others that are less so. The final scenes between her and the Doctor have to be the best departure scenes between the Doctor and a companion in the older run of the series. The worst of it is that the legacy of Sarah Jane is the awful repetition of the words “Eldrad must live..” which is the trademark line fans were left to remember her by for many years.

I do have to ask, what the hell is Sarah Jane wearing? It's a pair of white overalls with red stripes. She looks like a cross between a circus clown and the gals from Dexy's Midnight Runners in the Come On Eileen video. Even Elisabeth Sladen is pretty horrified by it in the commentary and states that it shows just how out of touch Sarah Jane was with reality by this point.

The pacing of The Hand of Fear is pretty good. The build-up to Eldrad is excellent making her enough of a threat. Unfortunately, once she’s been revealed and forged something of a bond with the Doctor it falls apart. It almost feels like the writer wrote himself into a corner and wasn’t sure how he wanted to get to the end point of the story. The story is something predictable as it is the traditional alien-of-the-moment storyline with no real surprises.

Tom Baker seems to step back a bit and allows this to be Elisabeth Sladen’s episode. His performance is excellent, but more subdued than the bombastic character his version of the Doctor evolves to before the end of his own tenure.

Where The Hand of Fear works quite well is in the cast of additional characters, particularly Judith Paris as the female version of the villainess, Eldrad. Her icy portrayal of the character is excellent which only makes the changeover in the character later on more disappointing. Other supporting characters give their all and do an excellent job, rather than seeming to try to take advantage of this screen time as their one chance to make their mark in the industry.

The special effects here are the usual cheap but with the charm that the fans of the series know and love. It works well in this storyline and doesn’t take away from the performance. Someone looking for the dazzle of the new series might be disappointed, but long-time fans will be pleased.

The extras on this DVD are very good. The commentary is a lot of fun to listen to as Tom Baker and Elisabeth Sladen join writer Bob Baker and producer Philip Hinchcliffe in a series of sessions. It’s obvious that there was a lot of fun and warmth on the set, particularly between Elisabeth and Tom. There’s also an hour-long special on the making of this story-arc that doesn’t really repeat what’s in the commentary but added to my enjoyment of the show.

The picture and sound are both good. After more than thirty years the prints were fairly easy to work from and went a long way to creating a nice look for the series with some good colors and vibrant images. The sound is good as well with only some minimal hissing in the background noticeable only when I really listened for it.

What could have been a long, drawn-out sob-fest instead is a pretty good story and well worth checking out. I’d recommend fans new to the series see some of the good episodes with Sarah Jane and the Doctor before viewing her farewell just to have the emotional investment that the rest of us have and appreciate the storyline.


Special Features:

• Commentary with Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Bob Baker, and Philip Hinchcliffe
• Information Text
• Changing Time
• Continuities
• Swap Shop
• Photo Gallery
• Doctor Who Annual
• Radio Times Billings



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



© 2009 Patti Aliventi 

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD