| THE STONES OF BLOOD by David Fisher |
| Story 100 Synopsis: The Tracer suggests that the 3rd segment is on Earth. There, the Doctor finds strange evidence of giant footprints. At a stone circle, the Doctor and Romana meet Professor Amelia Rumford and her assistant, Vivian Fay. The Doctor realises that the stones are actually Ogri, blood-sucking silicon creatures from Ogros, under Miss Fay's control. Although he realises Miss Fay must be thousands of years old, he is puzzled what she is up to. The segment seems to be located in hyperspace, where the Doctor and Romana travel to. There, they find a prison ship, and the Doctor releases the Megara justice machines, who sentence him to death. Finding out that they were transporting a prisoner, the Doctor realises Miss Fay's motivation. On the point of his execution, he causes a diversion, and Miss Fay is exposed as the missing criminal, Cessair of Diplos. The Doctor takes the segment from her, deals with the Megara, and returns to Earth with Romana. |
| Review:- In an all-random season, there would be expectation of one trip to Earth being included (although it would be implausible that more than 1 of the segments would be kept there). Here it is, wrapped up in a story mixing old folklore and space drama. Stone circles have an ancient and mythic quality, so it makes some sense to base a story about a set, and it is a suitably gory revelation that the stones are alive, and worse, blood-sucking aliens! The problems start when it becomes necessary to explain how the stones arrived on Earth, and what has happened to the 3rd segment. For the explanations are so long-winded that this almost seems like a whole new story set in space, with no indication that Vivien Fay is in fact a centuries-old escaped alien criminal. The real puzzler is - why does she stay near the hyperspace entrance when presumably no-one else on Earth could use it? Why does she keep such close access to the prison ship she escaped from? How long would she have kept on with her routine had the Doctor not caught up with her? These plot puzzles have been mildly addressed by the suggestion that Cessair is working for the Black Guardian. Therefore, she has been waiting centuries, presumably, for the Doctor to turn up and try and take the 3rd segment. This is rather silly, as the only way to stop the Doctor is if she is turned to stone with the Great Seal. So, what at first seemed to be a richly atmospheric story, alas falls completely apart with a little examination. This is a shame, because what is good about this story is worth praising. This may have the most female-heavy cast of any story ever. Admittedly there are few characters anyway, but of the 4 leads (De Vries hardly counts), 3 are women. The Megara, the Ogri and K9 are pretty sexless. It's not too important to the story, but it makes a nice change. The small cast also means that Professor Rumford and Vivien Fay both manage to seem like real people, which also makes a nice change. So, overall, this is a triumph of style over substance if you like it, and a failure for the same reasons if you don't. Whilst entertaining, it doesn't sustain. ADDED- Having now seen the story, all I can add is that Beatrix Lehmann's performance as Rumford steals the show, presumably inspiring later BF companion Evelyn Smythe, and taking a rounded view of all the wackiness she is confronted with. Oh, and the scene where the Doctor mends K9 and removes reams of shredded paper from inside made me smile. |
| Disclaimer: I've read the book, and seen the video. |