The Seeds of Death

I feel like this serial got worse as it went on. When it started, I enjoyed it as a relatively claustrophobic and tense story. However, as it went on, I felt that it moved away from this, becoming a more traditional invasion-style story. As such, it did begin to interest me less and less as it progressed and, while it never became bad, I feel that the later parts weren't as good as the earlier ones.

Is this the most action packed, adventure filled serial ever produced? No. But it is a personal favourite, and has been since I first saw it on VHS. The Ice Warriors actually feel like a threat in this story, unlike appearances in other serials by different 'monsters'. Mainly, I like that they are using a smart plan. The guest cast is excellent throughout the serial. As is constantly mention by me, the costume department does another excellent job.

1969: the year of space travel. But in Doctor Who they are marking the end of the space age, with rockets being replaced by "T-Mat", a teleportation technology. To mark this contrast, The Doctor, Zoe and Jamie land in a space travel museum at the start of this story (The Doctor's comfort zone). When the T-Mat route to the moon breaks down, Commander Radnor and his assistant Gia Kelly (who are responsible for the T-Mat system) turn to Professor Eldred who runs the museum and is an expert in antiquated technology. It of course turns out that a menacing force behind this breakdown.

The Seeds of Death is quintessential Patrick Troughton, no other Doctor has stories quite like this. Like many Second Doctor stories the ominous foam makes another appearance (how many times is that now?!).

The Ice Warriors are back. Whilst there is nothing quite as satisfying as the excellent reveal in their debut story, there are some intriguing elements. The monsters are trying to change the atmosphere of Earth through transporting these inventive (and brilliant) exploding seedpods around the planet as well as intercepting weather control centres.

Whilst I loved the seedpods and the satisfying set up, it really annoyed me that these were able to be destroyed by water - this was a weak and easy get out. On watching the extras of this DVD I learnt that the ending has a re-write; which makes sense.

There are plenty of good elements to this though. Fewsham's story arc is satisfying; the coward who ends up almost destroying the Earth to save his skin, but who then redeems himself through actions of selflessness. Whilst this story can be a little pedestrian in places, it is bright concepts like these that make it a hell of a lot better than The Krotons.

I think Seeds of Death is quite strong, on the whole. Though weakest around its plot, Jaime, Zoe, and the Doctor are all in form here, and there's a lot of little moments I found entertaining along the way. Definitely a pretty easy watch even if some parts drag on a little more than others. The Ice Warriors are fairly well done, though I definitely think they have better content elsewhere.

I definitely think this is one of the stronger Second Doctor television stories. Though certainly not the best, I enjoyed these episodes and found Seeds of Death to be a nice bright moment before the end of the Second Doctor's time.