The Hand of Fear

"Eldrad must live!"

Writers: Bob Baker & Dave Martin

Format: TV

Broadcast: 2nd-23rd October 1976

Season: 14.02

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Sarah

Synopsis

The Doctor and Sarah return to Earth, but are plunged into danger as soon as they step from the TARDIS. They arrive in a quarry rigged with explosives, and the blast leaves Sarah unconscious in the rubble, a fossilised stone hand in her grip. What strange power does the hand have over Sarah Jane?

Verdict 

The Hand of Fear was an excellent story and a worthy swansong for Sarah Jane as companion. After over three seasons playing the role of the companion, Elisabeth Sladen finally called it a day during the early stages of the fourteenth season. She dresses to be remembered in a terrific Andy Pandy outfit and I thought her performance was absolutely brilliant. Of course, given how much of keystone figure she was in the series, this blog entry will absolutely focus on her departure. It's not really hinted at all during the episodes until the last five minutes or so but the way she gets taken over by Eldrad's hand and possessed was sublime because of the way Sladen played it. She was absolutely brilliant I must say. The story being named what it was is let down a little bit by the lack of the hand appearing much in the third part and not at all during the fourth. I thought Eldrad's full arrival after regenerating could have been postponed until the last part and I think keeping the hand as the focus was where this story worked best. As you can see from the rating below, I still thoroughly enjoyed watching this. I was watching with my young cousin once again after arriving at my grandparents' house and he's persuaded his mum to stay over whilst I'm here so that'll be fun. He loved the story and even rated it at full marks and I was happy to hear that's he's now acquired The Seeds of Doom DVD and has watched that. His Doctor Who knowledge is growing and that's wonderful. I thought the special effects in this story were very good for the 1970s and I especially liked the quarry explosion. That set things up very nicely for the story to come. The hand first possessing Sarah and then Carter followed by Driscoll. The possessed were interesting and I loved how adamant they were in believing that Eldrad must live. Eldrad basing his first form on Sarah based on first contact was terrific and the regeneration on Kastria to his normal state was just as good. I liked both versions of Eldrad and his return to his home planet was actually quite full of sorrow. He returned to his planet to find himself the King of Nothing. Rokon was displayed as playing a message recorded long in the past and now his own species had committed self-genocide in the chance of Eldrad returning to lead conquest. After he found himself ruling over nothingness, he wanted to take over Earth and the Doctor couldn't allow that. He quickly saw him disposed with help from Sarah and his trademark scarf but I liked the ambiguity around the fact of whether Eldrad was actually dead. The end scene in which Sarah departed was quite sad but lovely at the same time. Both the Doctor and Sarah didn't want the other forgetting them and I don't think there was any chance of that happening. Sarah pretending to leave only to be told she had to must've been a great shock. There was a good reference to Planet of the Spiders but ultimately it was all about Sarah as the story ended. Overall, a fantastic story! A worthy sendoff.

Rating: 9/10