| NIGHTMARE OF EDEN by Bob Baker |
| Story 107 Synopsis: Two ships collide in space. One is a passenger ship, the other is a scientific mission. The TARDIS arrives too, and the Doctor determines to separate the ships. It seems that there is an outbreak of vraxoin on the passenger ship, but the ship's captain, Rigg, is sceptical. He later accidentally ingests some vraxoin. The other ship's captain, Dymond, gets increasingly annoyed about the delays, and Rigg hitting his ship. Another complication is Professor Tryst's CET machine, which contains samples from planets he has visited. Due to the instability of the matter interfaces between the two ships, samples escape, mainly Mandrel creatures. It transpires that the Mandrels come from Eden, and when carbonised, they are the source of the vraxoin. Tryst and Dymond are actually in league with each other. The Doctor uses the CET machine to stop them. |
| Review:- A story from the latter days of Tom Baker's run as the Doctor, this is renowned for the off-screen chaos that ensued during its production, wherein several people all contributed to one bad night of behind-the-scenes madness. Luckily, I don't think it shows on screen. Perhaps it would help if it did. This story is not one of the best, but is potentially a diamond amongst coal. The drug plot is made watchable by its presentation. That the badness of a drug can be shown by its effects on its users is not rocket science, but here, it really is effective. In fact, the most amazing thing I can say about it is that Bob Baker, having struggled with 6-part stories when co-writing with Dave Martin, suddenly finds himself with a worthwhile 6-part plot. Sadly, he only has 4 episodes, and it just flies by. Both the merged ships and the drugrunning make compelling and well-told action. The criticisms of this story tend to be about overacting, or silly monsters. Actually, this has some of the best scripting of an issue ever tackled (drugs) and mostly adequate acting. Lewis Fiander as Tryst has the problem that his accent overshadows his performance, but he still strives through (and I think he looks like Peter Sellers). David Daker as Rigg is even better. As balding middle-aged drugtakers go, his acting is exemplary. The sad part is that despite all the words about the importance of vraxoin, and its effects, the smart alec characters who seem expert, do nothing about Rigg. The Doctor overlooks his change in character, Romana thinks he's tired, and Costa thinks he's drunk! None of them make instant diagnosis of vrax consumption, despite apparently having seen the effects on 'millions'. Tch... The Doctor and Romana are actually rather weakly written/acted, considering they are supposed to be such super characters. It's lucky that Della and Rigg turn up and steal all honours for bad acting. I am tempted to play 'devil's advocate' and claim Rigg is a well-written/acted nasty piece of work, but I don't think I could sleep at night if I did. To sum up, I'd say this story was variable. |
| Disclaimer: I've seen the video, and read the book. |