| THE SEEDS OF DEATH by Brian Hayles |
| Story 48 Synopsis: 21st century Earth. T-Mat, a form of matter transportation, has made life easier, and made the idea of space travel out-moded. But the T-mat base on the Moon is attacked by Ice Warriors, and a rocket is needed to reach it. The only one is in Daniel Eldred's museum, where the TARDIS lands. The Doctor volunteers to pilot the rocket, taking Jamie and Zoe with him. They make it, and find the Ice Warriors are going to use T-mat to send seed pods around the world. The seed pods explode, creating a gas that reduces the level of oxygen, as well as a nasty foam. One Ice Warrior is also sent to smash the Weather Centre in London. The Doctor discovers by chance that water stops the seed pods, but there is an invasion fleet heading for Earth, following a signal on the Moon. The Doctor persuades the authorities to use a satellite to beam a signal that will draw the Ice Warriors away into the path of the Sun, whilst he nobbles the original signal. By using weather control to make it rain, the seed pods are soon dispersed. It is agreed that rockets would have a function as back-up for T-mat, which will no longer be Moon-based. |
| Review:- Earth has problems again, and the 21st century faces the wrath of the Ice Warriors... Sometime in the latter half of this century, T-mat has revolutionised travel around the Earth, rendering rockets and space travel to be too expensive to bother with. But by putting all its eggs in one basket, Earth has left itself vulnerable to attack from its wily neighbours from Mars... So it goes when T-mat is nobbled and Earth panics. The fortuitous arrival of the TARDIS provides a glimmer of hope amidst the bickering of Radnor (i/c T-mat) and Eldred (the rocket man). The long journey via rocket allows for the first half of the story to develop at a gentle pace, focussing on the danger of the Ice Warriors, before the titular seeds turn up at the end of pt 3. It is also an amazing coincidence that the Doctor is unconscious during pt 4, whilst all hell breaks loose... Zoe and Jamie are more in the background here as generic characters, with Zoe not even competing with Miss Kelly as the most brainy. Though at least Jamie's prior encounter with the Ice Warriors gives him some knowledge of the danger, and he can back the Doctor up. The Doctor puts himself in danger a lot, but moves from winning over Eldred to volunteering for the rocket, to surrendering to the Ice Warriors, to nobbling the vital homing signal, is rather lucky in finding the antidote to the fungus, and survives a seed attack, which proves fatal to everyone else it happens to. And he still manages to miss an episode! The Ice Warriors come across very well, seeming to suggest a wealth of numbers, and their sonic death ray providing a memorable and gruesome fate. It is a shame to compare their impetus in their story with their later return on Peladon, which totally reverses their position to no great success. Their seedpod plan also seems to have great merit, apart from the tiny problem that a product that is thrashed by water shouldn't really be launched in a highly precipitous climate, such as ours. On the whole, it's perhaps a bit long and takes a while to warm up (!) but it's pretty dramatic eventually, and mostly well acted. |
| Disclaimer: I've read the book, and seen the video. |