| THE FACE OF EVIL by Chris Boucher |
| Story 89 Synopsis: The TARDIS materialises in a jungle, and the Doctor explores. He soon meets Leela, a local savage who thinks he is the Evil One. He goes to her village, where he finds a less than friendly welcome. As he returns to the jungle, a wanted man, he asks Leela to take him to see the cave formation she keeps referring to. It turns out to be a giant carving of his face. After further skirmishes in the village, where he learns that the Sevateem, Leela's tribe, live in opposition to the Tesh, who reside behind an invisible barrier. There is a way through to the Tesh lands, through the mouth in the mountain face. The Tesh turn out to be equally hostile, and not reverent to the Doctor. They worship Xoanon, a powerful computer. The Doctor finds that he has visited the planet before, and reprogrammed the computer to help out. But he has rendered the machine schizophrenic. Despite Tesh resistance, Leela helps him defeat Xoanon. She opts to join him in the TARDIS, rather than remain on her planet. |
| Review:- So, with the bridging exercise in a solo Doctor over, and Sarah Jane fading from memory, here comes the newest companion, in a quite astonishing tale of science and religion. Originally titled The Day God Went Mad, this is a simple tale that fits the classic mould of a society which has been changed beyond all recognition by one simple act, as here, a mistake. That this time, the mistake is by the Doctor, rendering all the actions as guilt on him, is surprising. It does give him a jolly good reason to get involved, though, as he tries to put right what once went wrong. Leela is a product of a savage society, and despite her killer instincts, is a better choice for a companion than a Tesh would have been. She is still an underdog figure, which fits the dynamic of being a companion. She gets to imperil the Doctor, and save him, and despite her distaste for his face, she trusts him, and goes to help him when he visits the Tesh. How she would get on later, remains to be seen. The Tesh are well presented, as a mentally supreme race, who thankfully stay in their citadel, and don't nark the rest of the Universe with dreams of conquest. They also act as clear villains, after the shades of grey that the Sevateem provoke. The Sevateem seem a low and savage race, but as Tomas shows, they are proud, and refuse to bow to their sworn enemies. In a way, this is an allegory of the British class system. But I digress... Xoanon is a mixed-up, crazy fool, and it is a shame that its madness is artificially generated, and thus, artificially cureable. But at least they tried. The Doctor is strangely subdued through the story, putting the clues together, and then putting the problem to rights as he goes along. I like this story. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video, and read the book. |