Format: DVD
Warts & All: Nessie
Quote: I underestimated his intelligence, but he underestimated the power of organic crystallography.
Review: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, that’s the definition of insanity. So when Doctor Who fields what is essentially another dinosaur, you either have to question the show’s mental health or admire its tenacity to give giant monsters another go. But… Doctor Who pretty much needed to do a Loch Ness Monster story at some point. It was going to happen, irrespective of fx capabilities. And I’m actually partial to the way it turned out.
The Skarasen is the major letdown of this tale, but it’s better than the Dinosaur Invasion dinos and in some shots (slightly murky underwater side-view, plus brief snippets of Poundstretcher Harryhausen animation up on Tulloch Moor) it doesn’t even look all that bad. The director goes to laudable trouble not to show us much, resorting to close-ups and glimpses – in some ways reflecting the ‘evidence’ of reported ‘sightings’ of the Monster over the years. It’s only really on Nessie’s brief visit to London, peering over the banks of the Thames, that she looks properly terrible. But she’s had a long swim down from Scotland, so it’s understandable and in any case by that stage the story has done such a good job of winning us over with its blended malts of mystery, action and adventure.
There’s a sense of familiarity to it, like coming home to the UNIT years – the landlord’s lament for the dead might equally be a farewell to those years, since this is really the last UNIT story – but also there are distinct whiffs of Glenfury, Glenseadevils and Glensilurians in the mix. Rigs being attacked, lone wounded aliens hunted on the moors, figures wading in on haunting shorelines, companions getting shot at on beaches. Okay, the Fury connections are more tenuous, but such are the elements called to mind when I watched. It’s always quite a gift, I think, to concoct something that feels so familiar and new at the same time and Robert Banks Stewart has a clear knack for the game. The story, fairly standard alien invasion stuff, nevertheless has a flavour all its own. It’s a hybrid of organic and machine, like the Skarasen, at times the mechanisms are highly visible and a bit clunky – Sarah and Harry popping back to the castle to ‘see if they might find a clue’ just so Sarah can learn that the Duke is on the Scottish Energy Commission – but there’s also a natural flair to the dialogue and some aspects of the way the mystery unfolds. The local colour is a tad stereotypical, giving the Highlands the Green Death treatment, as it were, but the radio operator asking if the supply chopper can send over some haggis is probably the only bit that induced a slight cringe – and to some extent the ‘character’ of the Caber. It’s great to see Tom arrive in Highlandised regalia (Tom O’Shanter, anyone?) and the Brigadier embracing his clan Stewart heritage.
Having the fabulous Angus Lennie (you’ll know him as the sad wee fella who gets strung up on barb-wire in The Great Escape) and the brilliant semi-regular John Woodnutt as the Duke and his alien counterfeiter, Broton, lend a degree of class and quality to proceedings. Another key quality is in the visuals – the Zygons themselves are exceptionally well realised, one of the best man-in-a-suit alien costumes in the show’s extensive repertoire, the actors do well to add more to the overall effect with movements and voices. The organic design of the ship interior is highly effective, with all those nobbly nodules to twist and turn and I can even sing the praises of the exterior, because the Zygon spacecraft, for my money, represents some of the best model work you’ll see in the Classic series. Tom is having the time of his life and is even given a couple of Pertwee moments, racing around in a Land Rover and practicing tricks picked up from a Tibetan monk. Sarah, Harry and the Brigadier are all written wonderfully and playing their parts to the full – special mention for the chilling fake Harry and his pitch-fork attack on Sarah in the barn, followed later by that lovely moment of doubt when Sarah finds the real Harry – is it really him? and his use of the term ‘old girl’ is the only confirmation she needs. Lovely use of location – and I’ve visited that pub we see from the outside, went there with a very dear friend of mine, seen the photos of the cast hanging on the wall inside. So yes, memories probably add to the affections for the story here. And for no reason whatsoever it appoints a woman to the office of Prime Minister a woman before Thatcher came along and demolished that milestone. All of which amounts to this: there’s more to recommend this adventure than I can possibly include in one mini-review here and more than can be undone by one dodgy dino.
Warts and all, like the category above says, this is as good a taster as any for someone’s introduction to Doctor Who. Sure, the Zygons are a curious lot, going to all sorts of lengths to conceal their plots while also oddly keen to explain their schemes to anyone that happens along. And the whole thing is wrapped up a wee bit conveniently and quickly, with a nobbly-noduled self-destructor mechanism blowing the lovely ship to smithereens. But overall this makes for a decent flavourful dram of comfort Who from the UNIT distillery.
