The Face of Evil

"They say the Evil One eats babies."

Writer: Chris Boucher
Format: TV
Broadcast: 1-22 January 1977
Season: 14.04

Featuring: Fourth Doctor, Leela

Synopsis

The Doctor arrives on a planet where two tribes, the savage Sevateem and the technically brilliant Tesh, are at war. He meets Leela, an exile from the Sevateem, and discovers that their god of evil is apparently... himself?

Verdict

The Face of Evil was an excellent Doctor Who serial and a really strong introduction for Leela as the new companion! She had big shoes to fill following the departure of Sarah Jane Smith in The Hand of Fear, but she doesn't mess around in making a big impact. The story starts with her as the focus and that doesn't really change despite the plot centring on the Doctor and how he resembled the Evil One. That image of the Doctor's face in the mountains at the end of part one is excellent and I love the idea of the Doctor climbing down his own throat. Of course, it's not like The Invisible Enemy where he literally goes within himself, but the humour element is still there. The novelisation of this adventure would give the background on when the Doctor would have come to this planet before and set things in motion for what we see here. It turned out that he did in fact depart in the TARDIS briefly during Robot and with his post-regenerative state still very much playing a role, he ended up forgetting to take his personality print out of the computer Xoanon. The imagery of the Doctor's face booming on the screen and killing or hurting a number of individuals was fantastic. It really was fascinating to have the Doctor and his image representing something so evil. The Doctor is literally the epitome of what an opposite of the evil one would be. The backstory behind the Tribe of Sevateem is something I always enjoy with it of course just deriving from a survey team. There had been a lot going on in the past on this unnamed planet and the supposed relics of Xoanon were clearly just parts or devices from within a spaceship. I really enjoyed that. This is a serial I know very well having watched it a number of times and that didn't make it any less enjoyable. Neeva was a terrific character and that scene where he's dancing around the Doctor with the 'relic' was magnificent. I can't imagine that would have been easy to keep a straight face during takes! Tom Baker was on excellent form as the Doctor though. The opening with him exiting the TARDIS and addressing the camera works very well in the absence of a companion. Andor was a brilliant character and his role as leader of the Tribe of Sevateem was terrific. His banishing of Leela to beyond the border was intriguing as it didn't seem to be a decision he enjoyed making. Her father taking the test and not doing so well to save her sentence was quite sudden and that made a big impact, even for a character that we didn't know well at this point. Tomas had a good relationship with her and I liked that he was trying to stop her from leaving beyond the border. The setting of the jungles and within the Doctor's resembling face and the domain of Xoanon worked really well and there was always a lot going. The visuals were really impressive. The cliffhangers were pretty strong throughout which is always good and I thought the ending worked well and didn't seem too pacy which worked for this serial. It was actually a bit simple with the Doctor taking back his personality and Xoanon was back to what it always should have been. It now wanted trust and even put in a failsafe in having the ability for the Tribe of the Sevateem to make him cease to exist at any point. The ending with Leela barging her way into the TARDIS and as the new companion was marvellous. Overall, a superb serial!

Rating: 9/10