The Seeds of Doom

"All vegetation on this planet is about to go hostile."

Writer: Robert Banks Stewart
Format: TV
Broadcast: 31st January - 6th March 1976
Season: 13.06

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah Jane

Synopsis

When scientists unearth two seed pods deep in the arctic permafrost, the Doctor and Sarah Jane rush to investigate. Soon the Doctor's worst fears are confirmed: the pods house Krynoids, one of the most parasitic and dangerous life forms in the universe. One of the creatures has already infected a scientist and now a hideous monster is rampaging through the Base, intent on total destruction.

When the second pod is stole amidst the escalating carnage, it is transported into the hands of insane botanist Harrison Chase. From his mansion in England, the planet-obsessed Chase will allow the pod to split open. Both the ruthless millionaire and the rapidly growing carnivorous Krynoid are intent on infecting and destroying our entire world...

Verdict

The Seeds of Doom was an excellent Doctor Who story and a fine example of the Classic series. I really enjoyed going back to this one for only my second viewing and first in nearly eight years! The image that always stuck with me was the one that accompanies this blog with the Krynoid creature mounted on top of the house. It's just wonderful and in real time with that creepy movement it gets all the more better. I thought the pace of this adventure was terrific and I loved how the scale moved from two parts in Antarctica to start us off before something of a traditional four parter in more familiar surroundings. The way the storytelling advanced by scene was superb and really made for an exciting serial as there wasn't much waiting around to be done. One thing that did really tickle me was how everyone failed to remember, despite them just arriving, that the Antarctic base had a medical team when the arm amputation was required! How on Earth did that get overlooked? Barmy! The medical team were of course a sham which worked well, but the real villain of the day was Chase. I thought he was brilliant with his affection for plant life. It went a bit extreme, but with some recent complaints of the likes of Orphan 55 and Praxeus being too concerned with the politics behind climate change, it was clearly addressed here! It's not a bad thing and serves as a warning we as a society don't seem to have learned from. Tom Baker was on fine form as the Fourth Doctor and when paired with Sarah Jane Smith, you know there's going to be something great to enjoy. They were both terrific together. The latter's remark when Scorby joked about women running away was superb. You wouldn't get away with a line like that these days regardless of Sarah's response! The germinating of the pods was good and I liked how the Doctor already had knowledge of the Krynoids. It was helpful but it was also important that it didn't really aid him against it. How could it? The speed at which it grew was unprecedented! One thing I do think that was a negative was having it speak. Thankfully, it wasn't for long but I thin it would have been much better for it to just use Chase as a medium the whole time. Some of the cliffhangers were fantastic but there were enough tense moments between episode conclusions! Both the Doctor and Sarah nearly becoming fertiliser for the garden was very exciting and tense which is exactly what you want. The appearance of UNIT in the story is good continuity but it is a huge shame that there were no familiar characters. That would have contributed a lot to an already fantastic serial. Both Keeler and Winlett becoming infected was good and I thought the costume for the infection taking its toll on the hospital-like bed was sublime. That really was tremendous. Dunbar was a decent character selling the information regarding the Krynoid seed pod and I liked his relationship with Sir Colin Thackerary very much. The moment where he subtly gave up what he'd done in the car with him and Sarah was really good. I thought Scorby's journey in the serial was magnificent and he soon went from vicious killer to helping the Doctor to stop the Krynoid. It had gotten too far. I thought the acting and directing in the scenes in the overgrowth was terrific and really helped sell the fear of vegetation. Excellent stuff. I was surprised to see the Doctor condone violence as he did here, even punching straight in the face, but I'll leave that to UNIT's influence. The airstrike to destroy the Krynoid was very well done and the effects were hugely impressive for a story that aired over forty years ago! Overall, a really fine tale.

Rating: 9/10